Antioxidant Activity of Bacteria Associated with the Marine Sponge Tedania anhelans

The marine environment has proved to be a promising source of antioxidant compounds as several novel molecules that are derived from sponges, sea weed and marine microbes exhibit good antioxidant properties. Though the secondary metabolites of T. anhelans are being explored world wide, studies related with antioxidant property of its associated bacteria are very limited. In the present study, several Bacillus sp. with just 97 % similarity with its closest match in Gen Bank were isolated, and found to show free radical scavenging activity. The anti-oxidant activity was stable at alkaline pH and the GC-MS spectra showed the presence of several anti-oxidant compounds in the ethyl acetate extract of the bacterial cultures. To the best of our knowledge the present study is first of its kind to report about bacteria associated with the T. anhelans with antioxidant activity.