Purification of a Antimicrobial Fraction from Bothrops jararaca “Jararaca” Snake Venom

¹Ciscotto, P.H.C., ¹Oliveira, J.S., ²Diniz, C. G., ²Farias, L.M., ²Carvalho, M.A.R.; ¹Chávez-Olórtegui, C.

1 Dept. Bioquímica e Imunologia, ICB, UFMG, Minas Gerais; 2 Dept. Microbiologia, ICB, UFMG, Minas Gerais, Brasil.

Snake venoms are complex protein mistures with different biological actions that could be used as tools for drug development. Neurotoxins, cytotoxins, myotoxins, proteases and nucleases are found in varying quantities in snake venom, although few antimicrobial components have bee described. In this work, we show that B. jararaca venom presented antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Salmonella thyphimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Prevotella intermedia, Eubacterium lentum, Peptoestreptococcus anaerobius, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Propionibacterium acnes.. Purification of activity fraction from crude venom was performed by molecular exclusion, ion exchange and hydrofobic interaction chromatography using a FPLC system. Superdex G-75 gel filtration chromatography of the crude venom yield six protein peaks, and antimicrobial activity occurred in first peak. Fractions antibacterial was pooled and fractioned by the Mono-Q column, wherever the peaks six and seven showed activity antimicrobial. The last step of the purification was carried in Phenyl Superose colum. The crude venom and the fractions purified presented L-amino acid oxidase activity besides of antibacterial activity.

Correspondence to: paulaciscotto@zipmail.com.br