Exploring the utilisation of brown algal polysaccharides as biocontrol agents
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Algae, like plants, have cells surrounded by a cell wall. The cell wall is made up of many polysaccharides that give rise to different structural properties and control shape. It has also been reported that some of these polysaccharides, sulphated fucans, may have bioactivities that could be beneficial for humans.
With the pump-prime funding, Dr Siobhan Braybrook and her group from the Sainsbury Laboratory have been isolating these polysaccharides in order to characterise them and compile a library.
“Brown algae, also known as seaweeds, are currently very poorly characterised,” explains Siobhan. “There have been however some reports that some of the compounds in their cell walls have anti-microbial, anti-tumour and anti-oxidant properties, and these could be very interesting for a whole range of industries.”
In order to get started, the group’s algal specialist Dr Thomas Torode compiled a list of target seaweeds and the team collected them from beaches across the UK. “We got some funny looks from dog-walkers,” admits Thomas.
With the samples collected, the next step for the group has been to develop an efficient extraction technique to obtain the polysaccharides, as there is currently no established protocol for this. They have developed two different techniques: one enables them to learn more about the cell wall structure, and the other enables them to isolate the target polysaccharides in a purer form.
Their new techniques will allow them to extract the various polysaccharides from 9 different algal species, which will then be characterised and screened for bioactivity. Once the library is complete, the group hopes to present it to both industry and the scientific community.
“We aim to seek collaborators who can further research the bioactivities of these polysaccharides, and develop them for commercial purposes.”