A total of (25) stool samples were collected from children and adults (2- 4) years old suffering from diarrhea to isolate E. coli strains that produce heat-stable enterotoxin a (STa), and after performing microscopic examination, cultural characterization and biochemical identification only (11) isolates showed positive E. coli. STa activity was estimated by using suckling mouse assay (SMA) and from these (11) isolates only (5) showed STa activity and the one with the highest STa activity was selected for large scale production of STa, which was followed by partial purification using ion-exchange chromatography (normal phase) using DEAE sephadex A-50 column. After purification and determination of protein concentration by using the standard curve of bovine serum albumin, the concentration of toxin-protein was estimated as (1.08) mg/ml. The specific activity varied from (350) U/mg protein at the first step of purification to (2366.6) U/mg protein at the final step, while the final purification of the toxin was about (6.76) fold and with a yield of (18.25) %
University of Baghdad
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