Purification and characterization of an alkaline protease from the marine yeast Aureobasidium pullulans for bioactive peptide production from different sources.

The extracellular alkaline protease in the supernatant of cell culture of the marine yeast Aureobasidium pullulans 10 was purified to homogeneity with a 2.1-fold increase in specific protease activity as compared to that in the supernatant by ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration chromatography (Sephadex G-75), and anion-exchange chromatography (DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow). According to the sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis data, the molecular mass of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 32.0 kDa. The optimal pH and temperature of the purified enzyme were 9.0 and 45 degrees C, respectively. The enzyme was activated by Cu(2+) (at a concentration of 1.0 mM) and Mn(2+) and inhibited by Hg(2+), Fe(2+), Fe(3+), Zn(2+), and Co(2+). The enzyme was strongly inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, but weakly inhibited by EDTA, 1-10-phenanthroline, and iodoacetic acid. The K(m) and V(max) values of the purified enzyme for casein were 0.25 mg/ml and 0.0286 micromol/min/mg of protein, respectively. After digestion of shrimp protein, spirulina (Arthospira platensis) protein, proteins of marine yeast strains N3C (Yarrowia lipolytica) and YA03a (Hanseniaspora uvarum), milk protein, and casein with the purified alkaline protease, angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activities of the resulting peptides reached 85.3%, 12.1%, 29.8%, 22.8%, 14.1%, and 15.5%, respectively, while the antioxidant activities of these were 52.1%. 54.6%, 25.1%, 35%, 12.5%, and 24.2%, respectively, indicating that ACE inhibitory activity of the resulting peptides from the shrimp protein and antioxidant activity of those produced from the spirulina protein were the highest, respectively. These results suggest that the bioactive peptides produced by digestion of the shrimp protein with the purified alkaline protease have potential applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries.