Proteins and trypsin inhibitors in seeds of various plants

The potential trypsin inhibitor sources were identified from seeds of ten plants, based on the reaction of trypsin with synthetic substrate Nα-Benzoyl-D, L-arginine 4-nitroanilide hydrochloride (BApNA). All the tested ones contained various levels of protein (20.87 to 155.68 mg g⁻¹ of seed) and trypsin inhibitor units (TIU) (245.77 to 11235.82 TIU g⁻¹ seed). Among them, the Red lucky seed (Adenanthera pavonina L.) was identified as the richest source of trypsin inhibitor with 11235.82 TIU and 96.06 mg protein/g of seed with specific activity of 116.97 TIU mg⁻¹ protein. The next best ones the seeds of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) and babul (Acacia nilotica L.) with the TIU g⁻¹ seed as 9100.03 and 8690.72, protein content of 155.68 and 88.11 mg g⁻¹ seed with the specific activity of 58.45 and 98.63 TIU mg⁻¹ protein, respectively. This study is the first report of Zingiber officinale Rosc. as the source of trypsin inhibitor.