Fraction D3 was then dialyzed against 10 mM NH4OAc buffer (pH 5.1) before chromatography on a 2.5 × 20 cm column of carboxymethyl (CM)-cellulose (Sigma) in 10 mM NH4OAc buffer (pH 5.1). After elution of unadsorbed proteins, the adsorbed proteins were eluted successively

using 10 mM NH4OAc buffer (pH 5.1) containing 50, 150 and 1000 mM NaCl. Fraction C3 eluted with 150 mM NaCl was dialyzed against 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7) before chromatography on a 1 × 15 cm column of Q-Sepharose (GE Healthcare) in 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7). After removal of unadsorbed proteins (fraction Q1), adsorbed proteins were desorbed with a 0–0.4 M NaCl gradient in 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 6). The first adsorbed fraction (Q2) was then subjected to BIBW2992 molecular weight gel filtration on a Superdex 75 HR 10/30 column (GE Healthcare) in 0.2 M NH4HCO3 buffer (pH 8.5) using an AKTA Purifier (GE Healthcare). The second fraction (SU2) with a molecular mass of 29 kDa constituted purified hemolysin, which was designated as schizolysin. The assay was carried out as follows: to 0.1 mL of a 2% suspension of rabbit erythrocytes were added 250 μL 0.15 M NaCl and 50 μL test sample. After incubation in a water bath at 37 °C for 15 min, the mixture was centrifuged at 900 g for 5 min. The A540 nm was

then read. One hundred percent hemolysis was defined as OD540 nm of hemoglobin released from erythrocytes treated with 0.1% Triton X-100. One hemolysin unit (HU) was defined as the amount of hemolysin eliciting 50% hemoglobin release (Ngai & Ng, 2006). Schizolysin was subjected C59 wnt chemical structure to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

(SDS-PAGE) (Laemmli & Favre, 1973) and gel filtration on a calibrated fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC)-Superdex 75 HR 10/30 column (GE Healthcare) to determine its molecular mass. Its N-terminal sequence was determined by Edman degradation using a Hewlett-Packard amino acid sequencer. The sequence similarity analysis was performed using blast software against the NCBI protein database. The hemolysis inhibition tests to investigate inhibition of schizolysin-induced hemolysis by various carbohydrates were conducted in a similar manner to the hemolysis test. The results would indicate whether schizolysin interacts with any carbohydrate(s) on the erythrocyte membrane to exert its hemolytic action. A 20-μL aliquot of a water-soluble stock solution Dichloromethane dehalogenase of different carbohydrates (400 mM) was added to 250 μL of 0.15 M NaCl and 25 μL of schizolysin with 16 HU. The mixture was allowed to stand for 30 min at room temperature and then mixed with 100 μL of a 2% rabbit erythrocyte suspension. After incubation in water bath at 37 °C for 15 min, the remaining activity was detected. To investigate inhibition of schizolysin-induced hemolysis by various metal chlorides, the stock solutions of different metal chlorides were individually mixed with hemolysin solution and 250 μL of 0.15 M NaCl to achieve a final metal ion concentration of 5 and 10 mM, respectively.