Water soluble polysaccharides of marine algal species of <i style="">Ulva</i> (Ulvales, Chlorophyta) of Indian waters

Abstract

<smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"><smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"> Cold and hot water extracts of four different species of <i style="">Ulva</i> viz. <i style="">U. reticulata</i>, <i style="">U. lactuca</i>, <i style="">U. rigida</i> and <i style="">U</i>. <i style="">fasciata</i> were studied for their polysaccharide (PS) contents. In both the cold (CWE) and hot water (HWE) extracts relatively higher yield of polysaccharides were obtained in <i style="">Ulva fasciata</i> (6.5 and 16% respectively). <i style="">Ulva lactuca </i>was found to contain higher amounts of protein (33.1% in CWE), uronic acid (35.7% in HWE) and sulfate (23.8% in HWE). Cold water extracts were found to be enriched with hexose sugars, comprising a part of structural polysaccharide, whereas the hot water extracts were rich in rhamnose, xylose as well as glucose. The average molecular weight of these polymers were found to be in the range 1.14 to >2.0x10⁶ Da. Seasonal variation of PS of <i style="">U. fasciata</i> were also studied alongside. For this, cold and hot water soluble polysaccharides (PS) were isolated separately from the samples of <i style="">Ulva fasciata</i> Delile, collected monthly from a single location during the season of algal growth (September-March) of the year 1995-96 from the west coast of India. Yield (17-21%) and viscosity (203 247 cps) of HWE were high during the active period of growth (October-February) of algae. Given the abundance of <i style="">Ulva</i> species in Indian waters coupled with the potential utilities of their polysaccharides, the results obtained in this investigation would be useful in product development and bioprospecting strategies. </smarttagtype></smarttagtype>