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Partial Characterization of Proteins from Mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis as a Biomarker of Contamination

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An Erratum to this article was published on 15 October 2005

Abstract

Preservation of a healthy environment is a very important task, especially in the time of the total industrial revolution. Therefore, attempts to find new additional biomarkers of contamination are welcomed. For this aim, the functional and antioxidant properties of mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis proteins and the heavy metals Cd and Pb were explored. Mussels were collected in contaminated and noncontaminated sites in the Varna area of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Proteins were extracted from mussel entire soft tissue and analyzed using instrumental (Fourier transform infrared [FT-IR] spectroscopy, fluorescence, atomic absorption spectrophotometry), and biochemical (2,2′-azinobis 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) radical cation [ABTS•+]) methods. It was found that mussel proteins from the contaminated sites had specific qualitative changes: partial unfolding of the α-helix, slight shift in amide I bands, increased hydrophobicity, and fluorescent intensity in native and denatured samples. In the same mussel samples, an increased radical-scavenging capacity and increased contents of Cd and Pb in entire soft tissue were registered. Therefore, the above-mentioned indices could be used as additional biomarkers of sea water contamination.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partly supported by the Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy through the Food Industrial Technology Research Center at Mokpo National University. The authors are thankful to Mrs. Elena Katrich (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, School of Pharmacy) for her technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, School of Pharmacy, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, POB 12065, Jerusalem, 91120, Israel

    S. Gorinstein

  2. Department of Food Engineering, Mokpo National University, Muan Jeonnam, 534-729, Korea

    S.-T Jung

  3. Institute of Oceanology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Varna, 9000, Bulgaria

    S. Moncheva

  4. Department of Basic Sciences, Universidad del Bio-Bio, Chillan, Chile

    P. Arancibia-Avila

  5. Department of Horticultural Science, Mokpo National University, Muan Jeonnam, 534-729, Korea

    Y.-S Park

  6. Food Industrial Technology Research Center, Mokpo National University, Muan Jeonnam, 534-729, Korea

    S.-G Kang

  7. Institute of Organic Chemistry and Center of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, 1040, Bulgaria

    I. Goshev

  8. Kaplan University Medical Center, Rehovot, Israel

    S. Trakhtenberg

  9. Chemical Faculty, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, 80952, Poland

    J. Namiesnik

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  1. S. Gorinstein
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  2. S.-T Jung
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  3. S. Moncheva
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  4. P. Arancibia-Avila
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  5. Y.-S Park
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  6. S.-G Kang
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  7. I. Goshev
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  8. S. Trakhtenberg
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  9. J. Namiesnik
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Gorinstein.

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00244-005-4941-4.

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Gorinstein, S., Jung, ST., Moncheva, S. et al. Partial Characterization of Proteins from Mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis as a Biomarker of Contamination. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 49, 504–510 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-004-0238-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-004-0238-2

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