A β-galactosidase from chick pea (Cicer arietinum) seeds: its purification, biochemical properties and industrial applications.

A β-galactosidase from Cicer arietinum seeds has been purified to apparent electrophoretic homogeneity using a combination of various fractionation and chromatographic techniques, giving a final specific activity of 220 units mg(-1), with approximately 1840 fold purification. Analysis of the protein by SDS-PAGE revealed two subunits with molecular masses of 48 and 38 kDa, respectively. These bands were further confirmed with LC-MS/MS, indicating that Chick pea β-galactosidase (CpGAL) is a heterodimer. Molecular mass was determined to be 85 kDa by Superose-12 FPLC column, which is in agreement with the molecular mass suggested by mass spectroscopy to be 83 kDa. The optimum pH of the enzyme was 2.8 and it hydrolysed o-nitrophenyl β-d galactopyranoside (ONPG) with a K(m) value of 1.73 mM at 37°C. The energy of activation (E(a)) calculated in the range of 35 to 60°C, using Arrhenius equation, was determined to be 11.32 kcal mol(-1). The enzyme could also hydrolyse lactose, with an optimum pH of 4.0 at 40°C. K(m) and E(a) for lactose hydrolysis was found to be 10mM and 10.57 kcal mol(-1), respectively. The enzyme was found to be comparatively thermostable showing maximum activity at 60°C for both ONPG and lactose. Galactose was found to be the competitive inhibitor. β-Galactosidase also exhibited glycoproteineous properties when applied on Con-A Sepharose column. The enzyme was localised in germinated seeds with X-gal activity staining and shown to be expressed prominently at grown radical tip and seed coat. Sequence alignment of CpGAL with other known plant β-galactosidase showed high amino acid sequence homology.