Vol. 7, Issue 1 (2018)

Author(s):
Swati Sharma, Devina Vaidya and Neerja Rana

Abstract:
Kiwifruit enzyme is a plant cysteine protease enzyme abundantly present in kiwifruit. Protease enzymes are multifunctional class of enzymes and henceforth can be used in different sectors of food industry such as for milk coagulation, for meat tenderization etc. So, present study was conducted for extraction, partial purification and characterization of kiwifruit enzyme from kiwifruit. Kiwifruit enzyme is belonging to same family of thiol proteases as papain and bromelain. The enzyme was estimated at various stages of fruit maturity followed by partial purification and characterization. The supernatant was precipitated with different concentration of ammonium sulphate i.e., from 10-90 %. Characterization of protease enzyme was done by using response surface methodology (RSM). Results showed that maximum enzyme activity was observed at immature stage of fruit and with 60% of ammonium sulphate concentration. The enzyme had an optimum temperature of 45°C, functioned best at pH 8.0. This enzyme can be exploited commercially in food industry.