| Abstract: | A protease inhibitor was purified from the African marama bean (Tylosema esculenturm). The inhibitor is present in large amounts, representing about 10.5% of the total protein. The molecular weight is slightly larger than soybean trypsin inhibitor and was estimated at 23,000 by SDS-gel electrophoresis or 24,500 by amino acid analysis. The amino acid composition was atypical of most other plant inhibitors with a cysteine content of only one or possibly two residues/mole and a blocked amino terminus. Inhibition studies indicated virtually no inhibition of chymotrypsin activity. Elastase, however, was inhibited to the same extent as trypsin, requiring about 2 moles of inhibitor for complete inhibition of the enzyme. |
