These studies were conducted to investigate the extraction, purification and characterization of oriental pear protease, and the results obtained were as follows:
1. Oriental pear protease was effectively extracted by the method of homogenizing pear ...
These studies were conducted to investigate the extraction, purification and characterization of oriental pear protease, and the results obtained were as follows:
1. Oriental pear protease was effectively extracted by the method of homogenizing pear pulp with 0.7 volumes of 0.1 M - Sodium phosphate buffer, pH 6.5 containing 5mM - cysteine, 40mM - 2 - mercaptoethanol and 2mM - EDTA at 10,000 rpm for 5 min.
2. The protease was purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation, Sephadex G-100 filtration and DEAE-Sephadex A-50 column chromatography, and the purified enzyme gave a single protein band on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.
3. The specific activity of purified enzyme was 29.65 units/mg protein and the yield was 7.22 %.
4. The molecular weight of the protease was estimated to be about 51,000 by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and the enzyme had Km value of 54.5mg/ml for casein.
5. The purified enzyme has a maximum activity at pH6.0 and 50 ℃, and was stable from pH 5.5 - 6.5 and at temperatures below 50 ℃.
6. Casein was a better substrate for this protease compared to hemoglobin.
7. The enzyme activity was markedly inhibited by p-chloromercuribenzoic acid and heavy metal salts such as HgCl₂ and MnSO₄ also considerably inhibited the enzyme activity.