Purificação parcial e caracterização bioquímica de uma lectina extraída da esponja marinha Pseudosuberites sp.

Abstract

The organisms belonging to the phylum Porifera are filtering and sessile animals. They can possess many distinct morphological characteristics, including sizes, colors, and shapes. The Phylum Porifera comprises a group of animals with more than 9,400 species. The most known species belong to the marine habitat. In the last decades, the search for bioactive compounds has intensified on a large scale. Among these compounds, marine sponge lectins have a high biotechnological potential. Lectins are a group of proteins capable of reversibly binding to carbohydrates, without causing changes to them. Lectins can participate in several processes in the organism, including the invertebrate immune system. The objective of this work was to purify and characterize a lectin present in the marine sponge Pseudosuberites sp. The lectin was isolated from the combination of protein precipitation with ammonium sulphate and ion exchange chromatography, in DEAE-Sephacel matrix, called PssL (Pseudosuberites sp. lectin). The new lectin has stable hemagglutinating activity up to 40°C, with variations in lectin activity occurring when heated above this temperature, losing 50% of the activity from 50°C and showing optimal hemagglutinating activity at pH 9. In SDS-PAGE two protein bands (17 kDa and 33 kDa) under non-reducing conditions and three protein bands (17 kDa, 30 kDa and 33 kDa) under reducing conditions.