Biochemical characterization of protease enzyme extracted from different plant leaves and seeds: Destaining efficiency of enzyme for stain removal

Enzymes have replaced harsh chemicals to a great extent due to their biodegradable nature and greatly contributed to environmentally adopting clean and green technology. At present, proteases capture 65% of the total worldwide enzyme market due to their catalytic function which hydrolyze peptide bonds of proteins.The present study aimed to isolate and characterize the protease enzymes extracted from eight different plant sources i.e., six leguminous seeds like soybean (Glycine max), ground nut (Arachis hypogaea), black gram and white gram (Cicer arietinum), urad (Vigna mungo), moong (Vigna radiata) and two different plant leaves i.e., curry (Murraya koenigii) and coriander (Coriandrum sativum). Stain removal efficiency and detergent compatibility of all plant proteases were also studied. The results indicated that groundnut had highest protease activity (0.71U/ml) and highest specific activity (0.24U/mg) under the 50% salt saturation while the highest K_mvalue (0.034 mM/L) was observed in white gram seed and V_maxvalue (4.60 |jM/sec) was observed in soybean seed. The pH of seed protease ranged from 6–10 with the 9 optimal pH while curry leaves and coriander leaves showed 7 and 9 optimal pH, respectively. The optimal temperature of proteolytic activity was observed at 40°C in all plant sources. The destaining properties of plant protease enzymes were observed better against different stains like roli,turmeric powder, tea,ink,chandan powder, methylene blue dye and synthetic dye (Pink colour) than the detergent. The removal efficiency of the enzyme was increased with the detergent.Thus, the removal efficiency of detergent is enhanced by using plant proteases which may be recommended in the detergent formulation as additives due to their broad pH range and thermal stability as well as clean and green technology.