Antibacterial effects of crude venom and their protein fractions of Hottentotta saulcyi scorpion

Infectious diseases, mainly caused by bacterial agents, are one of the most common causes of death worldwide. A significant number of these agents have been resistant to one or more antibiotics; some of them are multi-drug resistant and others are extensively drug resistant. Various antimicrobial and anticancer compounds have been reported from the venom of various species of scorpions. In this study, the antibacterial effects of crude venom and protein fractions of Hottentotta saulcyi were studied.

In this study, the electrophoresis and chromatographic patterns of crude venom of the scorpion were obtained. Then, the antibacterial properties of the crude venom and its protein fractions on a Gram-positive bacterium, Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), and a Gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli (E. coli), were evaluated using the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay by microdilution method.

In the Tricine SDS-PAGE profile of the crude venom, 7 protein bands, with a molecular weight of 4.1 to 104 kDa were observed. In chromatographic studies, 14 main peaks were isolated and collected, of which 9 fractions contained protein. The crude venom at a concentration of 200 μg/ml had a significant inhibitory effect on Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The effect of the protein fractions of the crude venom was also different in these two types of bacteria.

The results of this study showed for the first time that the crude venom of Hottentotta saulcyi and some of its protein fractions have antibacterial properties.