Abstract
Intestinal nematodes are very common human parasites and a single species, Ascaris lumbricoïdes, is estimated to infect a quarter of the world’s population. A sticky external layer covers their eggs. This work shows that Raman vibrational confocal spectroscopy is able to give information on the biochemical composition of the shell of Ascaris eggs. The biochemical localised characterisation of Ascaris eggs was performed directly on the eggs in their aqueous environment. The studied parasites came from two origins: dissections of adult females and extractions from biosolid sludges. The presence of mucopolysaccharides, proteins and chitin in the shell was demonstrated. The presence of ascaroside compounds was shown particularly via the narrow and intense bands from the organised long CH2 chains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the latter have been observed in Raman vibrational spectra of microorganisms. Hydration of the shell was different depending on the intensity of the colour of the sludge eggs. Knowledge of the biochemical structural properties of egg surfaces would be useful to understand the egg adhesion phenomena on vegetables contaminated by reused wastewater.
References
Crompton DWT (2001) Adv Parasitol 48:285–375
Meng XQ, Wang SS, Wang BX, Ying GH, Li XY, Zhao YZ (1981) Scan Electron Microsc III:187–190
Lysek H, Malinsky J, Janisch R (1985) Folia Parasitol 32:381–384
Bartley JP, Bennett EA, Darben PA (1996) J Nat Prod 59:921–926
Wharton D (1980) Parasitology 81:447–463
Sromava D, Lysek H (1990) Folia Parasitol 37:77–80
Monné L, Hönig G (1954) Arkiv för Zoologi 7:261–272
Schuster KC, Reese I, Urlaub E, Gapes JR, Lendl B (2000) Anal Chem 72:5529–5534
Rösch P, Schmitt M, Kiefer W, Popp J (2003) J Mol Struct 661–662:363–369
Huang WE, Griffiths RI, Thompson IP, Bailey MJ, Whiteley AS (2004) Anal Chem 76:4452–4458
Huang YS, Karashima T, Yamamoto M, Ogura T, Hamaguchi H (2004) J Raman Spectrosc 35:525–526
Capizzi-Banas S, Maux M, Schwartzbrod J (2002) Helminthologia 39:197–204
Control of pathogens and vector attraction in sewage sludge (1999) EPA/625/R-92/013, 1-151. Washington DC, US EPA
Fairbairn D (1957) Exp Parasitol 6:491–554
Magat WJ, Hubbard WJ, Jeska EL (1972) Exp Parasitol 32:102–108
Fairbairn D (1955) Can J Biochem Physiol 33:122–129
Borchman D, Tang D, Yappert MC (1999) Biospectroscopy 5:151–167
Weng YM, Weng RH, Tzeng CY, Chen W (2003) Appl Spectrosc 57:413–418
Spiro TG, Gaber BP (1977) Ann Rev Biochem 46:553–572
Simons L, Bergström G, Blomfelt G, Forss S, Stenbäck H, Wansén G (1972) Comment Phys-Math 42:125–207
(1987) Biological applications of Raman spectroscopy. Wiley-Interscience, New York
Luu DV, Cambon L, Lapeyre C (1980) J Raman Spectrosc 9:172–175
Bansil R, Yannas IV, Stanley HE (1978) Biochim Biophys Acta 541:535–542
Lee SA, Myers LC, Powell JW, Suleski TJ, Rupprecht A (1993) J Biomol Struct Dyn 11:191–201
Atha DH, Gaigalas AK, Reipa V (1996) J Pharm Sci 85:52–56
Galat A, Popowicz J (1978) Bull Acad Pol Sci, Sér Sci Biol 26:519–524
Gremlich HU, Yan B (2001) Infrared and Raman spectroscopy of biological materials. Practical spectroscopy series, vol 24. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 1–581
Edwards HGM, Farwell DW, Williams AC (1994) Spectrochim Acta 50A:807–811
Beattie JR, Bell SEJ, Moss BW (2004) Lipids 39:407–419
Thomas GJ Jr, Kyogoku Y (1976) Infrared and Raman spectroscopy. Practical spectroscopy series. Marcel Dekker, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Quilès, F., Balandier, JY. & Capizzi-Banas, S. In situ characterisation of a microorganism surface by Raman microspectroscopy: the shell of Ascaris eggs. Anal Bioanal Chem 386, 249–255 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-006-0638-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-006-0638-4