MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF CRUDE SEED EXTRACTS FROM Moringa oleifera

Some natural coagulants have shown to be efficient in removing turbidity and color from water, including the extract of Moringa oleifera seeds. In this study, the nature of the coagulant in M. oleifera was determined by establishing the protein content in extracted solutions and the corresponding molecular weight. The extraction of coagulant from M. oleifera was performed using three types of solvents: distilled water, seawater, and a NaCl 1N solution. The protein content of the extracts was determined by the Pierce BCA colorimetric assay, using a Genesis 10 S UV-VIS Spectrofotometer (R). For the determination of protein molecular weight, the electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel (SDS) technique in 12% gel was used, following Laemmli protocol. Each coagulant was prepared using the Okuda method, modifying the extraction process using liquid nitrogen. Protein content was 3160, 3400, and 3640mg BSA center dot l(-1), for distilled water, seawater, and NaCl solution, respectively. The molecular weight determined for the Moringa coagulant extracted with distilled water corresponds to a dimer with a weight of 16 and 14kDa for each band. The molecular weight for the salt solutions was the same, 32.35, 6.00 and 5.00kDa for each band. The results show that the modified method for the extraction of the coagulant liquid N-2 yielded homogeneous protein content in each of the solutions and a higher fragmentation with salt solutions. This fragmentation allowed saline solutions to achieve greater removal of turbidity and color. Therefore, Moringa seeds is a promising alternative for water treatment.