Isolation and Characterization of Papain From The Latex of Papaya (Carica papaya L)

Abstract

The papain enzyme was isolated from the latex of papaya and it was purified by ammonium sulfat fractionation and dialysis methods. Determination of papain enzyme activity showed that the highest activity was found in the 80% fraction with a specific activity of 10.5797 x 105 U/g. Papain concentration after Bradford method was 53 mg/mL. Molecular mass of papain was detected to be 21.6 kDa after SDS-PAGE analysis. Characterization of papain showed that the optimum activity of papain was found at pH 8.0 with a specific activity of 14.07031 x 10 U/g, and at temperature 60 °C with a specific activity of 14.39755 x 10 U/g.

Keywords

• Isolation, characterization, papain, papaya