Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) of Diodon hystrix brain as an alternative biomolecule in heavy metals biosensing

Noreen Nordin; Rahmath Abdulla; Siti Aqlima Ahmad; Mohd Khalizan Sabullah

doi:10.6180/jase.202206_25(3).0014

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) of Diodon hystrix brain as an alternative biomolecule in heavy metals biosensing

Noreen Nordin¹, Rahmath Abdulla¹, Siti Aqlima Ahmad², and Mohd Khalizan Sabullah This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.¹

¹Faculty Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
²Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Received: December 8, 2020
Accepted: May 10, 2021
Publication Date: October 12, 2021

Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.202206_25(3).0014

ABSTRACT

The continuous discharge of toxic materials into the environment has been an alarming issue faces around the globe. Hence, matching effort of monitoring activity is vital to coping with the overwhelming amount of metal ions. Along with the significant current research being conducted, this study aims to investigate the sensitivity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) of Sabah porcupine fish, Diodon hystrix as an alternative biosensor in the detection of heavy metals. The enzyme was precipitated followed by the purification using ammonium sulfate precipitation and procainamide-affinity chromatography, respectively, with a total recovery of 66.67% with the specific activity of 2297.50 U/mg. The enzyme works optimally at pH 9 with the best incubation temperature of 30°C. The Michaelis constant (Km) and maximal velocity (Vmax) of 1.171 mM and 879257 mol/min/mg denotes the highest catalytic efficiency (Vmax/Km) of acetylthiocholine iodide (ATC) as its preferable substrate. Inhibition study tested on 10 metal ions resulted in increasing toxicity order of Cr⁶⁺ < Co²⁺ < Ag²⁺ < Cu²⁺ < Pb²⁺ < As⁵⁺ < Cd²⁺ < Zn²⁺ < Ni²⁺ < Hg²⁺, with only Hg²⁺ exhibited the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.48 mg/L. From the study, it suggests that the D. hystrix AChE as the potential conventional biosensor for heavy metals detection.

Keywords: Acetylcholinesterase; Diodon hystrix; Heavy metals; Pollution

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