Antifungal Activity of Bacteria Associated Aplysina sp. Sponge Collected from Enggano Island, North Bengkulu, Indonesia Against Candida albicans

Abstract

Sponges are the subject of interesting antibiotic development studies because the sponges form associations with various microbes and are rich in bioactive compounds. Bacteria associated with sponges are able to produce bioactive compounds, which have the potential to be antimicrobial such as, antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral. Antifungal compounds are bioactive compounds that have the ability to inhibit the growth of pathogenic fungi of Candida albicans. This fungal is an opportunistic pathogen fungi that can cause candidiasis. This study aimed to examine the antifungal activity of bacteria associated Aplysina sp. sponge from Enggano Island, North Bengkulu, Indonesia against Candida albicans. Antagonistic tests were carried out in three stages, by using isolates, pellets and supernatants respectively. The antagonistic assay results showed that four isolates were able to inhibit the growth of the fungus Candida albicans in Vitro, i.e APD3, APD10, APD11 and APD15. The highest inhibitory activity was resulted by APD10 isolate with a clear zone area of 14.9 mm in culture, 14,0 mm in pellets and 15.1 mm in supernatants. The morphological, Gram staining and biochemical characterization showed that the four isolates had a close relationship with the genus of Bacillus.