Virology

Biography

Biography: Luciana Konecny Kohn

Abstract

The Antarctic marine ecosystem is an extreme and unique environment that remains relatively unexplored, this environment can reveal and promote the discovery of new secondary metabolites which can presented a wide variety of compounds with antiviral activity. This study aimed was investigated the antiviral potential of these bacteria isolated from marine macro-organisms and sediments derived from Antarctica against to herpes simplex virus type-1. Among the genera identified by sequence analysis of the ribosomal RNA gene few were selected for continuous this study. The extracts were produced from microbial growth on medium and artificial salt water at 20°C and then were subjected to liquid-liquid extraction. Antiviral activity was measured by virus titration technique and calculated the percentage of viral inhibition (PI). The 50% effective concentration (EC50), 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50), selectivity index (SI) were determined. Experiments with three different types of treatments were conducted to determine on witch phase of the viral cycle sample was acting adsorption or penetration phase, replication phase and virus inactivation. In this study 151 bacteria were isolated and grouped into 29 different genera. About 15 microbial extracts were produced and were tested for antiherpetic activity. The strains Psychrobacter (PI:97% and SI: 1.5) and Brevibacterium (PI:97%) showed activity in virus inactivation, Pseudomonas showed greater activity (PI:100% and SI:8,88) in adsorption phase. These results show the great diversity of bacteria on the Antarctic environment and their anti-herpes potential.