Isolation of active coagulant protein from the seeds of <i>Strychnos potatorum</i> – a potential water treatment agent

<p>The application of natural coagulants for decentralized water treatment is gaining importance as a part of global sustainable initiative. This study focuses on the isolation of active coagulation components responsible for water clarification with respect to <i>Strychnos potatorum</i> seeds. The active coagulant components, protein and polysaccharide, were successfully isolated, dialysed and subjected to gel permeation chromatography. The polysaccharide was isolated with the saline extraction method and characterized using FTIR and NMR spectroscopy. Protein was precipitated with 80% ammonium sulphate solution combined with dialysis and gel permeation chromatography using Sephadex G-50. SDS-PAGE revealed that the isolated protein has a molecular weight of 12 kDa. The small-scale coagulation assay suggests that the protein fraction has superior coagulation activity than the isolated polysaccharide residue. The active coagulant fractions reported in this study would be helpful in deploying cheaper and simple methods in scaling up the coagulant fraction from these seeds acting as a potential water treatment agent.</p