Isolation of symbiont bacteria of Stylissa massa as potential candidates for producing antimicrobial compounds from the Waters of Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Current work aimed to isolate and characterize symbiont bacteria of Stylissa massa inhabiting Rote Island of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The symbiont bacteria are potential candidates for producing antimicrobial bioactive compounds. A total of 22 bacteria were isolated from S. massa with different characteristics. These isolates were screened to understand their capability to inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Further, the secondary metabolites of the SM10 isolate, with the best inhibition results. This isolate could inhibit pathogenic bacteria of E. coli (11.24 mm) and S. aureus (12.11 mm). The molecular identification using 16 S rRNA, revealed that the SM10 isolate is Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Based on the GC-MS results, the SM10 isolate had produced two alkaloid compounds, pyrrole alkaloid (hymenialdisine) and bromopyrrole alkaloid (agelongine and spongiacidin D), and 2 unknown compounds. This finding showed that S. massa has symbiont bacteria isolates that can be used in the biochemical industry.