During our search for bioactive compounds from Turkish marine sources, we have detected antimicrobial activity of some of the extracts that have been prepared from sponges, and tunicate and soft corals from different coasts of Turkey. All samples were extracted with methanol. Antimicrobial activity test was conducted against 5 microbial pathogens; (two gram positive bacteria, one yeast and two gram negative bacteria) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 33591), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (EF379), Candida albicans (ATCC 14035), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 14210), Proteus vulgaris (ATCC 12454), respectively. While crude extracts and filtrated Axinella verrucosa extract showed strong antimicrobial activity, some of the sponge species showed strong or modest activity depending on their localities and concentrations.
Keywords: Marine sponge, Tunicate, Soft coral, Secondary metabolite, Antimicrobial activity