Biochemival Characterization of an Antibactrial Glycoprotein from Achatina fulica ferussac Snail Mucus Local Isolate and Their Implication on Bacterial Dental Infection

• Main Authors: Titiek Berniyanti, Edy Bagus Waskito, Suwarno s
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta 2015-11-01
• Series: Indonesian Journal of Biotechnology
• Online Access: http://journal.ugm.ac.id/ijbiotech/article/view/7765

Snails crawl over a variety of potentially contaminated surfaces and their foot is the primary site of entry for<br />pathogens, parasites and a range of opportunistic organisms, so it is a little wonder that they must have a defensive<br />system to protect them. The mucus secreted on the body surfaces of mollusks is known to play crucial role in<br />locomotion, feeding, osmoregulation, reproduction and protection of epithelial surfaces. The snail mucus also<br />contains Glycoaminoglycans (GAGs) which are complex polysaccharides that participate in the regulation of<br />physiological processes through the interactions with a wide variety of proteins. GAGs, such as heparin, serve as key<br />to biological response modifiers, in example for acting asa a target for pathogen and parasitic factors for attachment,<br />invasion, and immune system.<br />For years, it has been known that the mucus secretions from snails Achatina fulica ferussac local isolate can be used<br />as a medication, and even empirically it is used to treat infected teeth tahat is suffered by people in rural area. The<br />antibacterial factor was surveyed in the aqueous extract and the mucin fraction of snail Achatina fulica ferussac, and<br />they exhibited positive antibacterial for Gram-positive, Escherichia coli and Gram negative, Streptococcus mutans. In<br />the following study, it has been proved that an antibacterial content in the mucus was a Glycoprotein. It was<br />composed of two subunits of Molecular Weight (MW) 71-73 kDa. The GelCode Glycoprotein Staining Kit detected<br />glycoprotein sugar moieties in polyacrylamide gel and on nitrocellulose membrane, while the glycoprotein<br />carbohydrate estimation kit detected glycoprotein and estimated carbohydrate content. The glycoprotein content<br />was 4.537 &plusmn; 0.876 for carbohydrate and 6.420 &plusmn; 1.242 for protein.<br />Keywords : characterization, glycoprotein, Achatina fullica Ferussac snail mucus, galur Jawa, antibacterial<br />factor