Antiviral and Antifungal of Ulva fasciata Extract: HPLC Analysis of Polyphenolic Compounds

The increasing usage of chemical control agents, as well as fungicides to manage plant diseases, causes human and environmental health problems. Macroalgae represent a reservoir for a tremendous variety of secondary metabolites that display a wide range of biological activities. However, their anti-phytopathogenic properties are still being studied. The current study was conducted to investigate whether or not the macroalgae Ulva fasciata extract exhibits antifungal and antiviral activities. In this regard, the organic extracts of U. fasciata were tested for their capabilities against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and three molecularly identified fungal isolates, Fusarium verticillioides, Alternaria tenuissima, and Botrytis cinerea with accession numbers OP363619, OP363620, and OP363621, respectively. Among the three tested extract concentrations, 100 µg/mL had the best biological activity against B. cinerea and TMV, with 69.26%and 81.25% inhibition rates, respectively. The HPLC analysis of chemical profiling of the extract showed the presence of a number of phenolic and flavonoid compounds widely known to display many biological activities. In this line, the 4-Hydroxybenzoic acid was the highest phenolic compound (12.3 µg/mL) present in the extract, followed by ferulic acid (9.05 µg/mL). The 7-hydroxyflavone (12.45 µg/mL) was the highest flavonoid in the organic extract of U. faciata followed by rutin, which recorded a concentration of 7.62 µg/ mL. The results of this study show that the U. fasciata extract has antiviral and antifungal properties, which makes it a possible source of natural antimicrobial agents.