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Research Article

Purification and characterization of a trypsin inhibitor from seeds of Murraya koenigii

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Pages 115-120 | Received 10 Mar 2006, Accepted 29 Aug 2006, Published online: 04 Oct 2008
 

Abstract

A protein with trypsin inhibitory activity was purified to homogeneity from the seeds of Murraya koenigii (curry leaf tree) by ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography on HPLC. The molecular mass of the protein was determined to be 27 kDa by SDS-PAGE analysis under reducing conditions. The solubility studies at different pH conditions showed that it is completely soluble at and above pH 7.5 and slowly precipitates below this pH at a protein concentration of 1 mg/ml. The purified protein inhibited bovine pancreatic trypsin completely in a molar ratio of 1:1.1. Maximum inhibition was observed at pH 8.0. Kinetic studies showed that Murraya koenigii trypsin inhibitor is a competitive inhibitor with an equilibrium dissociation constant of 7 × 10− 9 M. The N-terminal sequence of the first 15 amino acids showed no similarity with any of the known trypsin inhibitors, however, a short sequence search showed significant homology to a Kunitz-type chymotrypsin inhibitor from Erythrina variegata.

Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. T. P. Singh and Dr. Sujata Sharma for N-terminal sequencing and Dr. S. Karthikeyan for helpful discussion. Chandan Shee thanks the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India for financial support.

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