| Affiliation: | Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore, Macdonald Campus, Ste Anne de Bellevue, Québec, Canada H9X 3V9 |
| Abstract: | A partially purified enzymic extract from Phaeodactylum tricornutum was immobilized on silica gel and the specific activity of chlorophyllase in its free and immobilized states were compared in a ternary micellar system. The storage stability of the free and immobilized chlorophyllase extracts, maintained at temperatures ranging from 4 to 35°C for a period of 0–20 h, was temperature-dependent. The results also showed that the specific activity of the free and immobilized chlorophyllase extracts was highest at 30°C for long-term incubation, using chlorophyll and pheophytin as substrates and that a three-fold increase in the specific activity of the immobilized chlorophyllase was observed in comparison to that obtained with the free counterpart. The findings indicated that when free and immobilized chlorophyllase extracts were recovered and reused with both substrates, the immobilized chlorophyllase extract could be recycled for longer periods of time, while the free enzyme extract showed no activity after the first cycle. |
