Paper Title
Antibiotic Activity in Epibiotic Bacteria of Seaweed, Caulerpa Scalpelliformis, Southeastern India

Abstract
The surface associated seaweed epiphytic bacteria were isolated from Caulerpa scalpelliformis and screened for antibacterial activity. The epiphytic bacteria load on the surface of C.scalpelliformis was 30 x 102 CFU/cm2. Only 10 morphologically distinct epiphytic bacterial strains were isolated and screened for antagonistic activity against human pathogenic bacteria. The epiphytic bacterial strains were given designated codes from CS1 to CS10. Out of 10 epiphytic bacterial strains, only two stains (CS4 and CS7) showed activity against 8 and 10 bacterial strains respectively. CS4 strain exhibited zone of inhibition range of 8 to 18 mm with maximum zone against Bacillus subtilis and minimum against Salmonella typhimurium, whereas CS7 strain showed inhibition between 7 and 20 mm with maximum against Shigella sonnei. The investigation has proved that seaweed C. scalpelliformis and its epiphytic bacterial strain could be the potential source of bioactive compounds of biomedical importance. However, further purification and characterization of the active compounds has to be done. Keywords- Caulerpa Scalpelliformis, Epibiotic Bacteria, Antibiotic Activity, Southeastern India