Snail Slime/Mucus as Anti Microbial

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Land Snails are one of the most common pests that have been a problem to farmers. Snails eat the farmer’s crops and reproduce rapidly. Pomacea canaliculata, also known as channeled apple snails, is one of the species of land snails that can be found here in the Philippines. It likes tropical places and easy to reproduce that’s why most of the times it became a problem for the farmers. On the other hand, though it is a pest for farmers it can be eaten also and at the same time it can produce a glycoproteic secretion, which has been demonstrated to present some biological effects, such as antibacterial properties against gram positive and negative microorganisms (Iguchi et al., 1982; Kubota, 1985; Martinset al., 2003; Sirioet al., 2005, Lorenzi& Martins, 2006).

Antimicrobial peptides are a major component of the innate immune defense system in marine invertebrates. They are defined as molecules less than 10 kDa in mass which show antimicrobial properties and provide an immediate and rapid response to invading microorganisms. There is evidence that antimicrobial peptides are widespread in invertebrate especially in tissues such as the gut and respiratory organs in marine invertebrates, where exposure to pathogenic microorganisms is likely. These peptides generally act by forming pores in microbial membranes or otherwise disrupting membrane integrity, which is facilitated by their amphiphilic structure. This mode of action is unlikely to lead to the development of resistance (Tincul,Taylor.2004).

The present study used an invertebrate animal (Pomacea canaliculata )and its’ mucus was investigated to determined if it could inhibit the growth of Eri-coli

Statement of the Problem

The study wished to determine the antimicrobial activity of Pomacea canaliculata mucus against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923s?

Specifically it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What...