Carboxypeptidase digestion in the presence of detergents

The detergents, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), lauryl glutamate (LG), and octyl-(polydisperse)oligooxyethylene (Octyl-POE), were tested as to their effects on the activities of carboxypeptidases A, B, and P. In general, Octyl-POE showed little inhibition and SDS showed the strongest inhibition. Carboxypeptidase B was only slightly inhibited by SDS. The inhibitory effect of SDS on these enzyme activities depended not on its concentration but on its absolute amount. For a constant amount of SDS, the activities of carboxypeptidases A and B remained almost constant with increasing reaction volume. Commercial carboxypeptidase B is usually contaminated by carboxypeptidase A. With the addition of SDS, almost only carboxypeptidase B activity was detected.