Structure and Thermal Stability of a Protein from Molluscs

  • Dr Yan Er, School of chemical and biomolecular engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Sydney, Australia
  • Mr Desheng Liu, School of chemical and biomolecular engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Sydney, Australia
  • Dr Mike Patane, Protech Research Pty Ltd, Australia
  • A/Prof Fariba Dahghani, School of chemical and biomolecular engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Sydney
  • A/Prof Vincent Gomes, School of chemical and biomolecular engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Sydney

A glycoprotein found in molluscs possesses significant potential in treating medical conditions and in healthcare. This research will allow us to demonstrate its potential as the basis for a new drug in the treatment of painful infectious diseases such as the herpes virus and the human papilloma virus, which affect over 70% of adults in Australia. To ensure the quality and effectiveness of the protein for therapeutic uses, its molecular structure and thermal stability are key characteristics that need elucidation. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was carried out to obtain a protein melting profile and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to obtain a structural image of the protein. An atomic absorption spectrometric (AAS) method was developed and validated for the determination of copper (Cu) in native serum extracted from animal resources. Copper plays an important role in the protein. By measuring the copper content in the samples, the protein content was deduced from the copper content by using a constant copper/protein molar ratio. It is proved that AAS is a reliable quantitative measurement of the total copper content. Our method is specifically rapid and achieved required accuracy and precision. Those techniques are the basic methods for the further studies of hemocyanin stability, purification and formulation. The results from our research on the structure and thermal stability of the protein are of value in discerning its therapeutic usage.