Abstract

Vadde Ramakrishna* and P. Ramakrishna Rao

The positive correlation between the developments of acid, neutral and alkaline proteases (azocaseinolytic) with protein depletion suggest the involvement of these proteases in the degradation of proteins in germinating Indian bean. These proteases increased in the early stages of germination and decreased later. However, the activity of acid proteases was higher throughout the germination period compared with the activities of neutral and alkaline proteases. The acid protease from the cotyledons of 4-day old germinating Indian bean seedlings was purified to 152 folds by a five step procedure comprising - crude extract from cotyledons, (NH 4)2SO4 fractionation, DEAE-cellulose, CMcellulose and finally casein-agarose affinity chromatography. The molecular mass of acidic protease is 32 kDa.