CROSSED IMMUNOELECTROPHORETIC ANALYSIS OF PROTEINS FROM ANTARCTIC KRILL (EUPHAUSIA-SUPERBA) WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SERINE PROTEINASES

Immunochemicai characterization of proteins from Antarctic krill (E. superba) and particularly serine proteinases was performed by crossed immunoelectrophoresis (CIE). A reference pattern with 34 arbitrarily numbered immunoprecipitates was established for a crude krill extract using IgG rabbit antiserum. A zymographic technique for detection of proteolytic activity was applied and revealed 4 casein-positive antigens. Introduction of different affinity media as intermediate gels in CIE demonstrated several proteins which strongly interacted with Sepharose-bound arginine and Con A. These results suggest the presence of trypsin-like enzymes and other serine proteases and a high content of glycoproteins with alfa-D-mannopyranoside and alfa-D-glycopyranoside residues. The CIE method thus offers a reliable and reproducible tool for identification and characterization of different krill enzymes as well as application in process control, when purifying individual proteins/enzymes. Moreover this technology may serve as a fingerprinting method suitable for biological studies such as classification of geographical subpopulations, genotyping a specific species as well as comparisons between different species.