COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE NOVEL AMYLASES PURIFIED FROM APPLE AND ORANGE SEEDS

Abstract

Amylases are starch-digesting enzymes that are naturally present in seeds, fruits, tubers, roots, stem and pith of all plants. The present study is focused on the comparative studies on the α-amylase from apple and orange seeds to seek the better source. The enzyme extract was subjected to 40-60% salt precipitation. Further purification was carried out by traditional chromatographic procedures. The crude extracts obtained from apple and orange seeds presented the activities of 4.43 and 3.48 U mL-1 respectively. The purification through ion exchange and size exclusion chromatography resulted in an increase in specific activity for the apple source. The fold purification for the enzyme was 257.78 and 11.17 from apple and orange seeds, respectively. The study concluded that apple seeds are better source for purified α-amylase as compared to orange seeds. This work will also help to explore the natural sources like seeds for the isolation and purification of enzymes.