Pelagia noctiluca is the most venomous jellyfish in the Mediterranean Sea where it forms dense blooms. Although there is several published research on this species, until now none of the works has been focused on a complete
protein profile of the all body constituents of this organism. Here, we have performed a detailed proteomics characterization of the major
protein components expressed by P. noctiluca. With that aim, we have considered the study of jellyfish
proteins involved in defense, body constituents and metabolism, and furthered explore the significance and potential application of such bioactive molecules. P. noctiluca body
proteins were separated by1D SDS-PAGE and 2DE followed by characterization by nanoLC-MS/MS and MALDI-TOF/TOF techniques. Altogether, both methods revealed 68 different
proteins, including a
Zinc Metalloproteinase, a
Red Fluorescent Protein (RFP) and a
Peroxiredoxin. These three
proteins were identified for the first time in P. noctiluca.
Zinc Metalloproteinase was previously reported in the
venom of other jellyfish species. Besides the
proteins described above, the other 65
proteins found in P. noctiluca body content were identified and associated with its clinical significance. Among all the
proteins identified in this work we highlight:
Zinc metalloproteinase, which has a
ShK toxin domain and therefore should be implicated in the
sting toxicity of P. noctiluca.; the RFP which are a very important family of
proteins due to its possible application as molecular markers; and last but not least the discovery of a
Peroxiredoxin in this organism makes it a new natural resource of
antioxidant and anti-UV radiation agents.