Artemia Toxicity of Marine Bacteria from Tuticorin Coastal Waters

The discovery of novel chemical classes has been in decline for the past two decades, the need to exploit new resources in search for effective chemicals with novel mechanism of actions is imperative. Marine bacteria are such a resource yet to be tapped, and the potential it offers is vast. The antitumour assay (artemia toxicity bioassay) developed by McLaughlin et al. is being used as a "bench top bioassay" by many researchers for the preliminary screening of bioactive compounds. McLaughlin group has founded positive correlation between brine shrimp toxicity and cytotoxicity and has isolated a number of novel antitumor natural products using this bioassay. The lowest ED50 values were exhibited by 4 strains out of the 94 strains screened. Bacterial extracts exhibiting artemia toxicity test.