Abstract:
Oysters are nutritious sea food and an important source for biomedicine products. In this study, antimicrobial activity of body fluid of Saccostrea cucullata oyster was investigated against different human pathogens such as gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and gram negative bacteria Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and two fungus Candida albicans and Aspergillus flavus. The body fluid of Saccostrea cucullata showed highest antimicrobial activity against B. subtilis and C. albicans. The MIC value of crude body fluid against B. subtilis and C. albicans were 5µg/ml and 4mg/ml respectively. From the lyophilized body fluid four different antimicrobial proteins were purified by HPLC and molecular mass were determined by MALDI-TOF spectroscopy as 35.1 kDa, 46kDa, 50.5 kDa and 54.7 kDa. Among them, 50.5kDa proteins showed maximum growth inhibitory activity against B. subtilis and C. albicans. The research also revealed that it has synergic effect against analyzed selected bacterial and fungal strain. The synergic effect against B. subtilis showed maximum inhibitory activity at the concentration of 5µg/ml whereas; C. albicans exhibit maximum inhibitory activity at the concentration of 25mg/ml. The results indicate that body fluid of S. cucullata is a potential source of antibacterial and antifungal agents used as ethno-medicinal purpose. Therefore, body fluid of Saccostrea cucullata can be an alternative natural bio-product to cure some bacterial infections (e.g., B. subtilis) and fungal infections (e.g., C. albicans).