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PHYCOCHEMISTRY AND BIOACTIVITY OF TWO STONEWORT ALGAE (CHAROPHYTA) OF SINDH

B. GHAZALA, B. NAILA, MUSTAFA SHAMEEL, SALEEM SHAHZAD AND SULTAN MAHMOOD LEGHARI*

Abstract: Two stonewort green algae, Chara contraria A. Braun ex Kützing and Nitella flexilis (Linnaeus) C. A. Agardh were collected from Kinjhar and Haleji lakes, Distt. Thatta, Sindh during October to December 1999. Their methanol extracts revealed the presence of a variety of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (FAs) by GC-MS and ß-sitosterol by EI-MS & ¹H-NMR. In C. contraria, 9 saturated, 5 mono- and 2 tri-unsaturated FAs were detected, and N. flexilis contained 5 saturated, 7 mono-, 2 di-, 2 tri- and 3 poly-unsaturated FAs; while 4 FAs remained unidentified. The C13:1, C14:0, C16:0, C16:3, C17:2, C17:3, C29:0 and C29:3 acids were most commonly present in appreciable quantities (8.053-20.423 %) in them. Their methanol extracts showed little antibacterial activity but a strong antifungal activity against 6 of the 10 tested fungal pathogens. They displayed no bioactivity in brine shrimp bioassay and insecticidal tests. Chara contraria exhibited appreciable phytotoxicity (6.66 %) and antitumour activity (31 %) but N. flexilis did not, they showed specific differences.
 

Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan.
Department of Freshwater Biology & Fisheries, University of Sindh, Jamshoro-76080, Pakistan.