Production and Purification of a New Chillproofing Enzyme and Its Properties

Chillproofing enzyme was obtained from broth cultures of Serratia marcescens B–103. This extracellular enzyme, tentatively, named the S-enzyme was highly purified from the culture supernatant by ammonium sulfate precipitation, ethanol fractionation, gel filtration on Sephadex G–200 and column chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A–50.

The purified preparation appeared homogeneous on a ultracentrifugation with a sedimentation coefficient of 3.14 S and a molecular weight of 38,000~45,000 determined by the method of Whitaker.

The S-enzyme hydrolyzed various proteins at pH 4~6 and at low temperature hydrolyzed nitrogenous substances which may cause chill haze in beer. So the chillproofing activity of the S-enzyme may be due to its proteolytic activity.

The S-enzyme was stable at 4°C at pH 5~10.5. It was completely inactivated by heating at 60°C for 10 min, and was inactivated by Hg²⁺ and Pb²⁺ and activated by Mn²⁺, Ca²⁺. Mg²⁺ and Zn²⁺