Alkaline protease from senesced leaves of invasive weed

Abstract

Protease from senesced leaves of the weed Lantana camara was purified in a 2-step procedure involving ammonium sulfate precipitation and Sephadex G-250 gel permeation chromatography. The Sephadex-G-250 fraction of senesced leaves of Lantana camara showed 28.31 fold with a yield of 6.19%. The enzyme was shown to have a low molecular weight of 43 kda by SDS-PAGE. It was strongly activated by metal ions such as Cu2+, Zn2+, Mg2+, Co2+ and Mn2+. It remained active at 60°C, pH 10.5 even
after 1 h of incubation when casein was used as substrate. The compatibility of the enzyme was studied with commercial and local detergents, 60% activity of the enzyme was retained even after 1 h of
incubation at pH 10.0. The easy availability of the senesced leaves of this common weed makes it a cheaper enzyme source and potential additive in detergents.