The serum of rabbitfish (Siganus oramin) has antimicrobial activity to some pathogenic organisms and a novel serum L-amino acid oxidase is isolated.

The serum of rabbitfish (Siganus oramin) has been confirmed previously to have killing effect to Cryptocaryon irritans, an important marine ciliate protozoan that causes a disease referred to as "marine white spot disease". Herein, we find the serum of the rabbitfish also shows antibacterial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and has killing effect on two other parasites: Trypanosoma brucei brucei, Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. Results of scanning electron microscopy indicated that after treating with rabbitfish serum, the surface of the Staphylococcus aureus was wrinkled and pores were formed on the surface of Escherichia coli. Serum of the rabbitfish possesses a strong killing effect to Ichthyophthirius multifiliis in vitro, causing a similar effect as to C. irritans. The serum of rabbitfish also showed strong killing effect to T. b. brucei in vitro, with the minimus trypanocidal titre (MTT) only to be 1.5% in 1 h. Results of laser confocal fluorescence microscopy indicated that rabbitfish serum could also induce cell rupture of T. b. brucei. A novel antimicrobial protein (SR-LAAO) was isolated from the serum of rabbitfish by using ultrafiltration, reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and Native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Native-PAGE). Results of gel overlay assay showed that the protein could act alone to inhibit the growth of S. aureus and E. coli. Results of western blot and automated Edman degradation showed that it was the same as the antiparasitic protein (APP) reported before to have killing effect on C. irritans. Full length cDNA sequence of the SR-LAAO was cloned. BLAST research suggested that the cDNA of SR-LAAO has a close similarity with a number of L-amino acid oxidases (LAAOs) and possesses two conserved motifs that exist in LAAOs. Combined, these results demonstrate that this protein which has antimicrobial activity to some pathogenic organisms was a novel LAAO found in the serum of rabbitfish. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated tissue specific expression and localization of SR-LAAO in the spleen, kidney, gill and blood of the rabbitfish, but was not found in other tissues. These results suggest that this protein may contribute considerably to the host non-specific immune defense mechanism to combat microbes of the rabbitfish and has the potency for using in future drug development.