Abstract
β-galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23) is important in the formation of a medicinal plant Artemisia judaica (al-ba’atharan) aroma. The crude plant extracts of Artemisia judaica were used to characterize the enzyme in the term of pH, temperature, enzyme kinetic and effects of some heavy metals on its activity. The enzyme activity was measured by its ability to hydrolyze the substrate 2-nitrophenyl β-D-galactopyranoside (ONPG). The enzyme activity was reached maximum at 50°C and at pH 6.0. The Km and Vmax values of the enzyme were 3.6 mM and 1.67 μmol/min, respectively. Uncompetitive inhibition was observed in presence of Hg+2, Fe+3 and Zn+2 for the enzyme β-galactosidase in the crude extract through the decrease in the Km and Vmax values. Pb+2 and Cu+2 were found to act as a noncompetitive inhibitors on the enzyme β-galactosidase in the crude extract due to increase in the Km values and decrease in Vmax values. The study showed that Hg+2 was the most potent inhibitor while Cu+2 exhibited the least inhibition degree on β-galactosidase activity in the Artemisia judaica. These finding indicated that the enzyme β-galactosidase in the crude leaves extract of Artemisia judaica can be used in industrial and medical applications.
Highlights
Protein Content The protein content in the crude extract of leaves of Artemisia judaica was measured by Lowry method using Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as standard protein (Figure 1)
The result showed that the crude extract of leaves of Artemisia judaica has (0.56 mg/ml) amount of protein
Crude plant extracts of leaves of Artemisia judaica L. were analyzed for β-galactosidase activity and kinetics
Summary
Β-galactosidases have many biological roles include degradation of structural polysaccharides in plant cell walls; thereby can promote their loosening and the consequent elongating of the cell [7, 8] They have many medical and industrial applications include treatment of lactose malabsorption and production of lactose hydrolyzed milk [9, 10, 11]. Artemisia has multiple beneficial bioactivities such as antiviral, antipyretic, antihemorhagic, anticoagulant, antitumor, anti-anginal, anti-ulcerogenic and anti-hepatitis [39, 40] In this original study, the crude plant extracts of leaves of Artemisia judaica L. were used as a source for the enzyme β-galactosidase. The enzyme activities, kinetics and the effects of heavy metals were investigated as a primary step for the use of β-galactosidase in industrial, biotechnological and medical applications in future
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