Bioprospective studies of pigmented ink from Sepioteuthis lessoniana and its molecular identification using CO1 gene

Abstract5 Background The present-day world is teeming with numerous diseases due to the changing environment. The enormous growth of population has overburdened the prevailing resources of drugs; hence, drug manufacturers are in the lookout to develop effective and safe drugs in the pharmaceutical field. Marine environment is well known for its secondary metabolites, having a high potential in the research world of medicines. Several successful researches have explored the bioactivities of the marine organisms. In this regard, this study highlights the bioprospective activities of squid ink and identification of the organism using CO1 gene marker. Results In the present study, anti-inflammatory activity evaluated by human red blood cell (HRBC) membrane stabilization assay revealed protection of human blood cells in hypotonic solution confirming ant-inflammatory property of squid ink extract. Bovine serum protein denaturation method for investigating in vitro anti-arthritic activity proved that the ink extract has appreciable inhibitory effect on denatured proteins. The in vitro antioxidative property of the squid ink disclosed remarkable free radical scavenging activity. The squid ink exhibited potent antibacterial activity against three microbial pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. From the molecular study using CO1 gene sequencing, it was found that the given species of squid showed 100% similarity with a species in NCBI GenBank and it was identified to be Sepioteuthis lessoniana. Conclusions It is evident from the study that squid ink extract is a good source of anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, anti-arthritic and antimicrobial agents which would replace the existing cost of effective investigations intending to purify these active compounds and its identification of new molecular skeleton can give idea to the development of either the base or a new drug itself in the future.