title: Screening of antimicrobials from Caribbean sea animals and isolation of bactericidal proteins from the littoral mollusk Cenchritis muricatus.
abstract: Marine organisms represent approximately half of the world's biodiversity by virtue of the sea being an immense reservoir of bioactive molecules. Here, antimicrobial crude extract activities of different marine invertebrates from the Caribbean Sea were evaluated. One of the most active, crude extracts was that marine snail Cenchritis muricatus, it was capable of totally inhibiting the development of Staphylococcus aureus and also showed a growth inhibition of 95.9% in Escherichia coli. Aiming to isolate molecules that confirm antimicrobial activity, the crude extract was purified by reversed-phase HPLC C-18 chromatography. Thereafter, one of the obtained fractions preserved this antibacterial activity. Furthermore, SDS-PAGE analysis (15%) showed the presence of two proteins of molecular masses with approximately 10 and 15 kDa, respectively. The first 19 amino acids of both proteins were sequenced by using Edman degradation, yielding unidentified primary structures compared against sequences deposited at NCBI databank. This is the first report of antibacterial proteins isolated from the mollusk Cenchritis muricatus and these proteins could be used as antibiotic alternatives in the aquacultural industry, as well as in agricultural or biomedical research.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoriode Inmunoanalìtica y Péptidos Antimicrobianos, Centro de Estudios de Proteínas, Universidad de La Habana, La Habana, Cuba.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: López-Abarrategui
authors.forename: Annia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alba
authors.forename: Loiane A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maria-Neto
authors.forename: Ilka M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos
authors.forename: Jose T A
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Simoni C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.forename: Anselmo J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Otero-Gonzalez
authors.forename: Octavio L
authors.initials: OL
authors.lastname: Franco
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017691:Caribbean Region; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008974:Mollusca / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D011506:Proteins