This is a promising and significant step, the main author of the study, Maria de Fátima Carvalho, told Lusa News Agency.


The research focused on a kind of common algae on the Portuguese coast, called ‘Laminaria ochroleuca’ - large brown algae, and a specific algae known as actinobacteria, which are connected to the production of compounds known for antibiotics, Carvalho, from Portugal’s interdisciplinary centre of marine and environmental investigation centre CIMAR, said.


She stressed that the aim of the research was to understand which of these bacteria could be linked to the brown common algae on the Portuguese coast and its potential. This had never been done before, she pointed out.


The study could open the door for other kinds of algae to be “valuable sources” for future medications.