Bifurcaria
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Diaphoretickes
Clade: SAR
Clade: Stramenopiles
Phylum: Gyrista
Subphylum: Ochrophytina
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Fucales
Family: Sargassaceae
Genus: Bifurcaria
L.
Species

See text

Bifurcaria is a genus of brown algae seaweeds found on rocky North American and European shores and tidepools of the Atlantic Ocean. One species is also found on the shores of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Species

  • Bifurcaria bifurcata
  • Bifurcaria galapagensis
  • Bifurcaria rotunda

Uses

Bifurcaria is a source of unique diterpenoids which may prove pharmaceutically beneficial.[1] In one preliminary study, an extract of Bifurcaria bifurcata halted the proliferation of cancer cells.[2]

References

  1. Culioli G, Ortalo-Magné A, Daoudi M, Thomas-Guyon H, Valls R, Piovetti L (2004). "Trihydroxylated linear diterpenes from the brown alga Bifurcaria bifurcata". Phytochemistry. 65 (14): 2063–9. Bibcode:2004PChem..65.2063C. doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2004.03.014. PMID 15279973.
  2. Moreau, D.; Thomas-Guyon, Hélène; Jacquot, Catherine; Jugé, Marcel; Culioli, Gérald; Ortalo-Magné, Annick; Piovetti, Louis; Roussakis, Christos (February 2006). "An extract from the brown alga Bifurcaria bifurcata induces irreversible arrest of cell proliferation in a non-small-cell bronchopulmonary carcinoma line". Journal of Applied Phycology. 18 (1): 87–93. doi:10.1007/s10811-005-9019-1. S2CID 9407256.
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