Electrophoretic analysis of plant cysteine and serine proteinases using gelatin-containing polyacrylamide gels and class-specific proteinase inhibitors.

Inclusion of gelatin in polyacrylamide gels provides a sensitive way of detecting multiple proteolytic activities in crude extracts from any source. The present study describes a method allowing discrimination between cysteine and serine proteinases in plant extracts, using gelatin-containing gels in combination with class-specific proteinase inhibitors. Preincubation of extracts with 4 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, a serine proteinase inhibitor, or with 25 microM L-trans-epoxysuccinyl-L-leucylamido(4-guanidino) butane, a cysteine proteinase inhibitor, allowed the identification of enzymes from both classes in extracts of tomato fruit and papaya latex. The efficiency of the two low molecular weight inhibitors used was very high, and the irreversibility of the inhibiting effect was maintained during electrophoresis conducted in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The analytic procedure described here, with a detection threshold of less than 100 pg enzyme, is the first that allows quick and accurate discrimination of plant cysteine and serine proteinases separated in electrophoretic gels. This simple and rapid technique could be of interest for studying the evolution of class-specific proteinases in plant extracts during various developmental, physiological, and pathogenic processes. It is also potentially applicable to the majority of eucaryotic and procaryotic systems.