Abstract
Phlorotannins are secondary metabolites produced by brown seaweeds with antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and larvicidal activities. Phlorotannins’ structures are formed by dibenzodioxin, ether and phenyl, ether, or phenyl linkages. The polymerization of phlorotannins is used to classify and characterize. The structural diversity of phlorotannins grows as polymerization increases. They have been characterized extensively with respect to chemical properties and functionality. However, review papers of the biological activities of phlorotannins have focused on their antibacterial and antiviral effects, and reviews of their broad antifungal and larvicidal effects are lacking. Accordingly, evidence for the effectiveness of phlorotannins as antifungal and larvicidal agents is discussed in this review. Online databases (ScienceDirect, PubMed, MEDLINE, and Web of Science) were used to identify relevant articles. In total, 11 articles were retrieved after duplicates were removed and exclusion criteria were applied. Phlorotannins from brown seaweeds show antifungal activity against dermal and plant fungi, and larvicidal activity against mosquitos and marine invertebrate larvae. However, further studies of the biological activity of phlorotannins against fungal and parasitic infections in aquaculture fish, livestock, and companion animals are needed for systematic analyses of their effectiveness. The research described in this review emphasizes the potential applications of phlorotannins as pharmaceutical, functional food, pesticide, and antifouling agents.
Highlights
Seaweeds are abundant in coastal regions and have become valuable sources of biologically active compounds and secondary metabolites, such as agar, carrageenan, alginate, alkaloids, phenolics, and phlorotannins, with extensive practical applications [1]
Corato et al [32] have shown that phlorethols and fucophloretols extracted from Laminaria digitata are effective against plant fungal pathogens, such as B. cinerea and M. laxa, with 100% mycelial growth inhibition
Phlorotannins can inhibit settlement process of cyprids larvae. These findings indicate that phlorotannins from brown seaweeds might serve an essential ecological role as inhibitors of fouling
Summary
Seaweeds are abundant in coastal regions and have become valuable sources of biologically active compounds and secondary metabolites, such as agar, carrageenan, alginate, alkaloids, phenolics, and phlorotannins, with extensive practical applications [1]. Ecklonia cava, E. kurome, E. stolonifera, Pelvetia siliquosa, Eisenia arborea, and E. bicyclis as well as species in the genera Cystophora and Fucus have been reported to contain phlorotannins. Purified phlorotannins from these brown algae have antioxidant, antitumor, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antimicrobial, antifungal, and larvicidal activities, which are beneficial properties for the development of new functional agents [3,4,5,6,7]. ]. A combination of ether and phenyl, ether, dibenzodioxin, or phenyl linkages form the structures of phlorotannins (Figure 2).
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