Isolation and partial characterization of a lethal sea nettle ( Chrysaora quinquecirrha) mesenteric toxin

Abstract

A protein lethal to mice was isolated from the sea nettle ( Chrysaora quinquecirrha) mesenteric tentacle nematocysts by immunochromatography. The partially purified protein was also toxic to spontaneously beating cultured chick cardiocytes but was not hemolytic to rat erythrocytes. On sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels, the mesenteric protein consisted of three bands with apparent molecular weights of 175,000, 160,000 and 108,000. The three protein bands yielded similar peptide maps when subjected to limited proteolysis.