Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. mehrnoush_amid@yahoo.com
Molecules, 2013;18(11):14366-80.
PMID: 24264138 DOI: 10.3390/molecules181114366

Abstract

Plant peels could be a potential source of novel pectinases for use in various industrial applications due to their broad substrate specificity with high stability under extreme conditions. Therefore, the extraction conditions of a novel pectinase enzyme from pitaya peel was optimized in this study. The effect of extraction variables, namely buffer to sample ratio (2:1 to 8:1, X₁), extraction temperature (-15 to +25 °C, X₂) and buffer pH (4.0 to 12.0, X₃) on specific activity, temperature stability, storage stability and surfactant agent stability of pectinase from pitaya peel was investigated. The study demonstrated that the optimum conditions for the extraction of pectinase from pitaya sources could improve the enzymatic characteristics of the enzyme and protect its activity and stability during the extraction procedure. The optimum extraction conditions cause the pectinase to achieve high specific activity (15.31 U/mg), temperature stability (78%), storage stability (88%) and surfactant agent stability (83%). The most desirable conditions to achieve the highest activity and stability of pectinase enzyme from pitaya peel were the use of 5:1 buffer to sample ratio at 5 °C and pH 8.0.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.