Amino Acid Determination of the Dominant Protein Isolated from Fertilized, Corticated Ascaris lumbricoides Egg

Ascariasis is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) affecting one billion people worldwide. The most common laboratory diagnosis is still through the microscopic identification of Ascaris lumbricoides eggs from stool sample; thus, there is a need to establish a gold standard for its identification. In line with this, investigation of the amino acid content of the protein coat was done for possible development of rapid diagnostic tests. Micro-Bradford assay of the supernatants after decortication using Phosphate-Buffered Saline with Tween 20 revealed increasing absorbance suggestive of increasing protein content (r=0.71). Results of the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography exhibited peaks belonging to arginine and tyrosine. Moreover, these amino acids recovered are present in proteins which are inhibitors of mammalian trypsin and chymotrypsin.