Indian Mongoose Research Articles

Characterization of the antihemorrhagic factors of mongoose ( Herpestes edwardsii)

Z.-Q. Qi, K. Yonaha, Y. Tomihara and S. Toyama. Characterization of the antihemorrhagic factors of mongoose ( Herpestes edwardsii). Toxicon 32, 1459–1469, 1994.—Three antihemorrhagic factors (AHF1, AHF2 and AHF3) isolated from the serum of mongoose ( Herpestes edwardsii) are glycoproteins of monomer structure with the same mol. wt (about 65,000), which contain 4.2%, 13.6% and 6.0% carbohydrates as glucose, respectively. All are composed of about 600 amino acids of similar composition. The 32 amino terminal amino acid sequences of three antihemorrhagic factors were determined, and sequence homologies were examined. AHF1 and AHF2 were of the same amino acid sequence, and showed high homologies to AHF3, oprin (opossum proteinase inhibitor) and human α1B-glycoprotein; 68.7%, 42.3% and 50.0% identity, respectively. AHF1 completely inhibited the hemorrhagic activity of HR2b, the hemorrhagic factor of habu snake, at the concentration of five-fold molar excess, although incomplete inhibition (50%) of proteinase activity of the hemorrhagic factor was observed even at the concentration of 20-fold molar excess of antihemorrhagic factor. Incubation of HR2b with AHF1, and analysis of the reaction products by chromatography on TSK gel G-3000SW and on the ultracentrifuge did not show formation of an inactive enzyme inhibitor complex. However, the complex formation between AHF1 and HR2b was observed by a BIAcore analysis and TSK gel SP-5PW column chromatography. No alteration in the primary or the secondary structure of both factors was demonstrated by SDS-PAGE and circular dichroism spectrum at the far-UV wavelength before and after incubation of both factors, respectively

Purification of an antihemorrhagic factor from the serum of the non-venomous snake Dinodon semicarinatus

Y. Tomihara, K. Yonaha, M. Nozaki, M. Yamakawa, Y. Kawamura, T. Kamura and S. Toyama. Purification of an antihemorrhagic factor from the serum of the non-venomous snake Dinodon semicarinatus. Toxicon 26, 420 – 423, 1988. — An antihemorrhagic factor was purified from the serum of Dinodon semicarinatus, a non-venomous snake ( Akamata), by a series of high performance liquid chromatographies with a TSK gel DEAE-5PW column. The purified antihemorrhagic factor showed a single band on polyacrylamide gel disc electrophoresis and inhibited the hemorrhagic activity of HR1 and HR2, the hemorrhagic factors of Trimeresurus flavoviridis Okinawa. The antihemorrhagic factor was stable from 0° to 60° and at pH values 2.0 – 11.0. The molecular weight of the factor was estimated to be 59,000 and 52,000 by a gel filtration and SDS-disc electrophoresis, respectively, suggesting that it consists of a single subunit, as we also found for the antihemorrhagic factors of the mongoose Herpestes edwardsii.

Purification of three antihemorrhagic factors from the serum of a mongoose ( Herpestes edwardsii)

Y. Tomihara, K. Yonaha, M. Nozaki, M. Yamakawa, T. Kamura and S. Toyama. Purification of three antihemorrhagic factors from the serum of a mongoose Herpestes edwardsii. Toxicon 25, 685 – 689, 1987.—Three antihemorrhagic factors (AHF-1, AHF-2 and AHF-3) were purified from the serum of H. edwardsii, a mongoose, by a combination of gel filtration on a Sephadex G-200 column and high performance liquid chromatography with a TSK gel DEAE-5PW column. Each of the purified antihemorrhagic factors showed a single band on polyacrylamide gel disc electrophoresis. The three antihemorrhagic factors inhibited the hemorrhagic activity of HR 1 and HR 2, the hemorrhagic principles from the snake venom of Trimeresurus flavoviridis Okinawa. AHF-1, AHF-2 and AHF-3 were stable at temperatures from 0° to 60°C and at pH values between 2.0 and 11.0. The same molecular weight (65,000) was obtained for the three antihemorrhagic factors. No precipitin lines were found for the purified antihemorrhagic factors with the venom of T. flavoviridis Okinawa and its hemorrhagic principles, HR 1 and HR 2.

Biology of the Indian Mongoose in Puerto Rico

Biology of the Indian Mongoose in Puerto Rico

Título en español.

Riki-tiki-tavi, una mangosta de la India, fué el héroe en el "Libro de la Selva" de Rudyard Kipling, por su habilidad para matar cobras y otras serpientes venenosas. Traída a las Antillas donde no hay serpientes, como sucede en Santa Cruz, o muy pocas como en Puerto Rico, la mangosta se dedicó a atacar lo más que se le parecía a una culebra, principalmente lagartijas. Las lagartijas son insectívoras y por lo tanto se consideran beneficiosas a la agricultura. De hecho, la mayor parte de los insectos dañinos que se encontró en los estómagos de las mangostas observadas, con toda probabilidad fueron originalmente atrapados por lagartijas. Los insectos que come la mangosta en su mayoría son ortópteros, tales como saltamontes, grillos y cucarachas. También come tarántulas y ciempiés.