Characteristics of thermal inactivation of lysozyme in solution

In the buffer solution (pH 6,2) at 20-80 degrees, the lysozyme thermoinactivation was studied by monitoring of its activity decrease in the lysis of M. lysodeicticus cells. Protein inactivation was characterized by effective pseudofirst order rate constants which depend on enzyme concentration and are described by equation k = k0 . exp [-alpha 0 (1-gamma/T) [E]0], where k0 is inactivation rate constant at "infinite" enzyme dilution, [E0] is an initial lysozyme concentration, alpha 0 and gamma are the coefficients independent on [E0]. By extrapolation of the "k" dependencies on [E]0 the constants k0 were determined. In the range 40-70 degrees C, the rate constant k0 is equal 4,0 X 10(11) . exp (-24 200/RT) sec-1.