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Antimicrobial and Immunomodulatory Activities of Jellyfish (Chrysaora quinquecirrha) Venom

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Prospects in Bioscience: Addressing the Issues

Abstract

Marine invertebrates, especially jellyfish (Cnidarians), are of particular concern in the production of natural toxins. In Cnidarians, the toxin is present in specialised structures called the nematocysts, which inject the venom after mechanical or chemical stimulation and so protect themselves from the attack of prey. The present study deals with the antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activity of fractionated venom of the jellyfish Chrysaora quinquecirrha. In this study, the fractionated extracts were tested for antibacterial and antifungal activity. It showed moderate antibacterial activity against 10 pathogens, and Salmonella paratyphi was the most sensitive against n-butanol extracts (8.0 ± ;0.81 mm). The fungi Aspergillus niger was the most sensitive against n-butanol extracts (9.0 ± 1.63 mm). Immunomodulatory activity of the fractionated extract has been showed as significant activity at higher concentrations. The extracts of C. quinquecirrha exerted an immunostimulating effect of 40–25% magnitudes at lower concentrations and a suppressive effect of 33% at higher concentration. The fractionated extract exhibited immunostimulation ranging from 25 to 40% at concentration up to 1,000 μg but showed immunosuppressive effects at 20 μg. From this study, we conclude that the venom of C. quinquecirrha has potent antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activity. Molecular weight of C. quinquecirrha extract fraction ranging from 15 to 105 kDa revealed the presence of medium-sized proteins and categorised as (1) medium-sized cytolytic actinoporins (∼20 kDa), (2) cardiostimulatory proteins (∼28 kDa) and (3) cytolysin with or without phospholipase (∼40 kDa) in both crude and fractionated proteins. The FTIR spectra of jellyfish sample experimentally observed that frequencies of crude and fractionated venoms displayed in the O–H stretching frequency appeared at 3,567 cm−1 and the N–H stretch in secondary amide (polypeptides) appeared at 3,348 cm−1. The overall frequencies showed an increase in amide I, amide II and amide III regions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Biotoxinology Lab, Centre for Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Parangipettai, 608502, Tamil Nadu, India

    K. Suganthi & S. Bragadeeswaran

Authors
  1. K. Suganthi
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  2. S. Bragadeeswaran
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Correspondence to S. Bragadeeswaran .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Dept of Biotechnology & Microbiology, Kannur University, Palayad P.O,Thalassery Campus, Kannur, 670661, Kerala, India

    Abdulhameed Sabu

  2. , Dept. of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Kannur University, Palayad P.O, Thalassery Campus, Kannur, 670661, Kerala, India

    Anu Augustine

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Suganthi, K., Bragadeeswaran, S. (2012). Antimicrobial and Immunomodulatory Activities of Jellyfish (Chrysaora quinquecirrha) Venom. In: Sabu, A., Augustine, A. (eds) Prospects in Bioscience: Addressing the Issues. Springer, India. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-0810-5_34

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