Characterising the enzymatic profile of crude tentacle extracts from the South Atlantic jellyfish Olindias sambaquiensis (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa)

• Biologically active toxins were obtained from tentacle extracts in good yields.
• Metalloproteinase, serine proteinase and phospholipase A2 activities were detected.
• The data validated previously predicted toxins in Olindias sambaquiensis proteome.
• Activity of serine proteinase and phospholipase A2 were comparable to viper venoms.
• Presence of these enzymes may explain some symptoms of human envenomings.

Jellyfish venoms are of medical and biotechnological importance, with toxins displaying antimicrobial, analgesic and anti-tumor activities. Although proteolytic enzymes have also been described, detailed characterisation of these proteins is scant in Olindias spp. High throughput mass spectrometry profiling of cnidarian venoms has become increasingly popular since the first description of the proteomic profile of putative toxins isolated from nematocysts of the hydrozoan jellyfish Olindias sambaquiensis describing the presence of orthologous enzymes as presented in venoms of advanced species as snakes. Rigorous bioinformatics analyses can aid functional annotation, but biochemical assays are prerequisite to unambiguously assign toxic function to a peptide or protein. Here we present results that experimentally confirm previously predicted proteomic analysis that crude venom extracts from tentacles of O. sambaquiensis are composed of polypeptides with metalloproteinase, serine proteinase and phospholipases A2 activities. Surprisingly, levels of serine proteinase and phospholipase A2 activities were comparable to those observed in venoms of Bothrops snakes which were used as positive controls in this study. Hence, these data offer new opportunities to explore serine proteinase and phospholipase A2 activities in the clinical sequelae following O. sambaquiensis envenomation, with future possible biopharmaceutical applications.