Antiviral properties
Seaweed has been reported important source of antiviral agents with high
efficacy on resistant mutant viral strains and low toxicity to host
(120, 121). Water soluble extracts from seaweeds demonstrated antiviral
activity against a wide range of viruses (122). Among the bioactive
molecule from seaweeds with antiviral activity are polysaccharides from
marine organism which can either inhibit the replication of the virus by
interfering with the viral life cycle or improve the host antiviral
immune responses to accelerate the process of viral clearance (123). The
life cycle of viruses differs greatly between species, but there are six
basic stages in the life cycle of viruses; viral adsorption, viral
penetration, uncoating of capsids, biosynthesis, viral assembly, and
viral release (124). Therefore, Marine polysaccharides can inhibit viral
life cycle at different stages or directly inactivate virions before
virus infection.