Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

Phospholipases A2 (PLA2) are enzymes that participate in numerous important physiologic and metabolic processes in plants and animals. The phospholipase A2 activity is also associated to different pathologies, that�s why the purification and further characterization of these enzymes result from big interest, both for basic and applied studies with a leading role in medicine, physiology, nutrition, immunology, microbiology and toxicology. Their usefulness is growing in different biotechnological, pharmaceutical and general industries, such as food industry where is not always needed a highly purified enzyme. Numerous investigations have demonstrated similarities between marine coelenterate venom compositions with that from snakes, based on pharmacological properties they possess. They constitute complex mixtures of several components, mainly of protein nature and phospholipase A2 activity has been described. Affinity chromatography constitutes one of the most effective methods for protein purification due to the specificity of interactions established in this method, hence the importance of selecting supports adapted to achieve this purpose. The aim of the present research study is to test a two-step purification protocol for phospholipases A2 (PLA2) from the sea anemone Condylactis gigantea that allows for the purification of those enzymes for their later characterization through a chromatographic affinity support MANA-Sepharose CL 4B with covalently immobilized egg phosphatidylcholine. The above mentioned support allows the purification of three protein components with molecular weights between 18000 and 14000, in a two-step protocol with at least one component possessing phospholipase A2 activity. These enzymes may provoke edemas and myotoxic activity. Marine invertebrates constitute a remarkable source of bioactive compounds and the isolation of these compounds through bio-guided chromatographic techniques could be of great value for drug discovery and pharmacological studies.

Biography

Email: fguisado@uo.edu.cu