Identification of The Secondary Metabolite Derived from Aaptos spp. and its Antibacterial Activity

Many novel bioactive compounds have been found to be most abundantly produced by sponges. Over the years, Indonesian sponges have played an important role in expanding our understanding of chemical diversity and biological activity. Among those sponges, the sponge genus Aaptos has been shown to have antimicrobial activity. Antimicrobial resistance and the spread of infections in the immunocompromised population have all contributed to an increase in the appearance and severity of these infections in recent decades. Finding an alternative antimicrobial drug from marine secondary metabolites will be beneficial. The current study looks into the profile of bioactive compounds derived from the sponge Aaptos. The sponge was collected from Raja Ampat Island, Indonesia. This sample was extracted with ethanol and an ethyl acetate-methanol solvent. Furthermore, Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC), High-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used to map the secondary metabolite related to antimicrobial activity in both extracts. TLC profiling revealed potential alkaloid and terpenoid compounds from both ethanol extract and ethyl acetate-methanol. The HPLC-DAD and PCA results revealed that one of the ethanol crude extracts had a similar profile to Ciprofloxacin, Chloramphenicol, and Ampicillin. These antibacterial profiles open up new research avenues, with the ultimate goal of contributing to the development of new and effective antimicrobial drugs. This research also helps with the bioprospecting of marine sponges from Indonesian sea water.