Species identification and the biological properties of several Japanese starfish

Farhana Sharmin,Shoichiro Ishizaki,Yuji Nagashima

doi:10.3329/ajmbr.v2i4.31016

Abstract

Marine organisms are a rich source of natural products with potential secondary metabolites that have great pharmacological activity. Starfish are known as by-catch products in the worldwide fishing industry and most of starfish have been got rid of by fire destruction without any utilization. On the other hand, starfish are considered as extremely rich sources of biological active compounds in terms of having pharmacological activity. In the present study, molecular identification of starfish species, micronutrient content and hemolytic activity from Luidia quinaria, Astropecten scoparius, and Patiria pectinifera were examined. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene fragment of mitochondrial DNA indicated that partial sequences of PCR products of the species was identical with that of L. quinaria, A. scoparius, and P. pectinifera. From the results of micronutrient contents, there were no great differences on the micronutrient among species. However, Cd, Cu, and as contents had species-specificity. The crude extract of three starfish showed hemolytic activity against 2% rabbit erythrocytes with 50% hemolytic concentration of 10-1000 ?g/mL. The findings of the present study provided some basic information about identification of starfish species, potentialities of starfish which could be utilized in food and pharmaceutical industry.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. December 2016, 2(4): 689-695

Highlights

Starfish are star-shaped echinodermata, belonging to the class Asteroidea
Molecular identification of starfish is enabled by using the nucleotide sequence encoding 16S rRNA gene of mtDNA
From the results of the alignment with the estimated species, it was found that the partial sequences of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products from four samples were almost identical with those of L. quinaria (99.20%), A. scoparius (99.17%), and P. pectinifera (99.06%) (Table 1).it was confirmed that identification of starfish is enabled by using the nucleotide sequence encoding 16S rRNA gene of mtDNA

Summary

Introduction

Starfish are star-shaped echinodermata, belonging to the class Asteroidea. The large outbreak of starfish has been observed in worldwide ocean. Starfish have the ability to consume a wide range of food source including mussels, scallops, clams, and some seabed fish, which causes considerable decline in the number of commercial shellfish (Global Invasive Species Database, 2016). Steroidal glycosides and related compounds are predominant metabolites in starfish and have a broad variety of biological activities such as cytotoxic, hemolytic, ichthyotoxic, repellent, antineoplastic, antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral and antiinflammatory (Lee et al, 2014; Thao et al, 2014; Nina et al, 2003). Starfish has identified as a serious pest species because of its ability to consume a wide range of food sources including mussels, scallops, and clams (Global invasive species database, 2016). Chemically and pharmacologically analysis in demanded for utilization of starfish resources

Methods

Results

Conclusion