CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The super-family of peroxidases from plants, fungi and bacteria are haem proteins that
catalyse the oxidation of various electron donor substrates (phenols, aromatic amines) at the expense of hydrogen peroxide (Welinder, 1992). Peroxidases contain iron (III) protoporphyrin IX (ferriprotoprophyrinIX), as the prosthetic group. They have a molecular weight ranging from
30 to 150kD and may be divided into mammalian, microbial and plant peroxidases (Welinder,
1992). The haem peroxidases are ubiquitous in nature with diverse physiological functions, and are classified into three groups on the basis of their amino acid sequences (Welinder, 1976). These enzymes share similar catalytic cycles where hydrogen peroxide reacts with the resting ferric enzyme to form the intermediate compound I (known as compound ES in cytochrome c peroxidase) which carries two oxidizing equivalents (Kim and Lee, 2005). Compound I is subsequently reduced by reactions with two reducing substrate molecules. The reaction of these reduction steps generate the intermediate, compound II, which is then further reduced back to the ferric enzyme (Hiner et al., 2000). Class I includes intracellular peroxidases, cytochrome c peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, and gene-duplicated bacterial catalase-peroxidase. Class II contains secretory fungal enzymes, such as manganese peroxidase and lignin peroxidase. Class III consists of secretory plant peroxidases (Welinder, 1992). There is increasing interest in these classes of peroxidase, not only to establish their physiological roles, but also for possible industrial and analytical applications (Segel, 1993). Microbial peroxidases are involved in lignification of cell walls (Blee et al., 2003) and in the metabolism of the plant hormone indole-
3-acetic acid (IAA) (Veitch, 2004). Studies have suggested that peroxidases play a role in lignification, suberization, cross-linking of cell wall structural protein, auxin catabolism and self–defense against radical-mediated peroxidation of unsaturated lipids, pathogens and senescence (Hiraga et al., 2001) and help with salt tolerance and oxidative stress (Smith et al.,
2003). In rubber trees, peroxidase was found in newly excised bark strip, possibly in response to wounding, i.e. excision (Bolwell et al., 2002). In sunflower leaves, it may also be involved in leaf senescence (Clemente, 1998).
Industrial application of peroxidase in chemistry, pharmacology and biotechnology is well developed. Peroxidase is used in waste treatment in order to remove aromatic phenols and amine from aqueous solution in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (Duran and Esposito, 2000). In this treatment, phenolic compounds are polymerized in the presence of hydrogen peroxide through a radical oxidation-reduction mechanism (Nazari et al., 2005). Peroxidase is widely used commercially as secondary antibody for research and medical diagnosis (Colonna et al.,
2002), as indicators for reactive oxygen species formed during food processing (Thongsook and Barret, 2005) and as catalysts for de-lignification of paper pulp (Farrell et al., 2007). The other areas where peroxidase could have an immediate use and economic impact are soil remediation (Reetesh and Kunwar, 2011) and the synthesis of polyelectrolyte complexes (Mackey and Killard, 2007). Recently, the combination of peroxidase and IAA has been introduced as a novel cancer therapy (Egorov et al., 2004). Although peroxidases are found from various sources such as fungi, plants are the traditional sources for commercial production of peroxidases having attracted comparatively more attention than other sources for commercial purposes because of advantages such as superior stability and increased sensitivity (Wei, 2003).
1.1 Peroxidases
Peroxidases (EC1.11.1.7) are oxido-reductases that catalyze the reduction of peroxides, such as hydrogenperoxide (H2O2) and the oxidation of a variety of organic and inorganic compounds (Welinder, 1976). The catalytic cycle involves distinct intermediate enzyme forms (Krell et al., 1992). The r e a c t i o n of peroxidase-catalyzed reaction is depicted in the following general equation:
AH2 + H2O2 → A+ 2H2O. ( Chattopadhyay and Mazumdar, 2000) Specifically, peroxidase activity involves donating electrons that bind to other substrates such as ferricyanides and ascorbate, in order to break them into harmless components. Peroxidases degrade H2O2, a naturally occurring by-product of oxygen metabolism in the body. As a result, these substances are converted to water and oxygen (Suha et al., 2013). By the
early1900s, as yet unknown enzymes at work in human body were labeled as ‘catalases’ while the simultaneous observation that plants and animals utilized polyphenols to degrade H2O2 led to the term ‘peroxidases’(Marzouki et al., 2005 ). Peroxidases play important roles in protection of plant leaves from salt-induced oxidative damage (Duarte-Vazquez et al., 2005). The well-known
and best studied peroxidase is horseradish peroxidase (HRP) (Welinder, 1976) but other plants like Solanum lycopersicon sourced peroxidases have attracted comparative attention because of their availability (Wei, 2003).
Peroxidases are versatile biocatalysts with an ever increasing number of applications (Veitch, 2004). Plants peroxidases contain two-calcium ions (Ca2+), which are essential for their structural and thermal stabilities as well as in vitro activation during analysis (Sticher et al.,
1981). Peroxidase activity has been shown to arise from the presence of quite a large numbers of isoenzymes varying in substrate specificity, heat stability, molecular weight, isoelectric point and immunological properties (Lee and Pennesi, 2008; Vidziunaite et al., 2003; Wakamatsu and Takahama, 2009). However, unlike many other plant isoenzymes, the iso-electric points (pI values) for isoperoxidases traverse a wider range of pH values, generally from pH 4 to 10 as typified by Lycopersicon species (McLellan & Robinson, 2009; Moulding et al., 1988).
Peroxidase is an enzyme found in many plant-based foods. The enzyme is of concerns to food processors because of its high thermostability and its involvement in the oxidation of many organic compounds, leading to deterioration in flavor, color, and nutritional quality (Manu and Prasada-Rao, 2009). These qualitative changes have been found to occur particularly in canned and frozen fruits and vegetables during storage (Annele, 2012). Peroxidase is also used as an index of the adequacy of fruit and vegetable blanching due to its presence in most plant tissues, its high thermal stability, and the simplicity of its measurement (Anthon and Barrett, 2002). Heat treatment is commonly used to inactivate an active enzyme. However, it is well-known that Peroxidase can recover its activity after heat treatment (Schwimmer, 2001). Many studies have revealed that residual or reactivated peroxidase can cause significant deterioration in the quality of various high-temperature-short-time (HTST) processed foods (Adams, 2012) Reactivation of the enzyme is suggested to be a complex process and is influenced by several factors. In horseradish peroxidase (HRP), reactivation has been reported to take place after partial inactivation at 70, 90, or 110°C (Tamura and Morita, 2011). One factor affecting its reactivation is the time taken to reach the desired treatment temperature. If this time is short, reactivation occurs more easily (Rodrigo et al, 2000). This fact poses a problem in HTST treatment of acid and low-acid vegetables that are subsequently frozen or canned (Lu and Whitaker, 2004). The ability of peroxidase to regain activity after being denatured by heat varies with the species of vegetable and may even differ between isoenzymes of the same species (Halpin et al, 1999).
1.1.1 Physiological functions of peroxidase
Most reactions catalyzed by peroxidase especially horseradish peroxidase can be expressed by the following equation, in which AH2 and AH represent a reducing substrate and its radical product respectively. Typical reducing substrates include aromatic phenols, phenolic acids, indoles, amines and sulfonates (Villalobos and Buchanan, 2002).
H2O2 + 2AH2 + POD → 2H2O + 2A…………………………………………………..Equation 1
Figure 1: Catalytic reaction of peroxidase (Villalobos and Buchanan, 2002)
During the catalytic cycle of peroxidase as shown in Figure 1, the ground state enzyme undergoes a two-electron oxidation by H2O2 forming an intermediate state called compound I (E). Compound I (E) will accept an aromatic compound (AH2) in its active site and will carry out its one-electron oxidation, liberating a free radical (AH) that is released back into the solution, converting compound I (E) to compound II (Ei). A second aromatic compound (AH2) is accepted in the active site of compound II (Ei) and is oxidized, resulting in the release of a second free radical (AH) and the return of the enzyme to its resting state, completing the catalytic reaction (Figure 1). The two free radicals (AH) released into the solution combine to produce insoluble precipitate that can easily be removed by sedimentation or filtration.
Various side reactions that take place during the reaction process are responsible for the enzyme inactivation (E) or inhibition (Eii) leading to a limited lifetime, but this form is not permanent since compound III (Eii) decomposes back to the resting state of peroxidase. Some peroxidases, like horseradish peroxidase (HRP), leads to a permanent inactivation state when H2O2 is present in excess or when the end-product polymer adheres to its active site, causing its permanent inactivation due to changes in its geometric configuration (Villalobos and Buchanan, 2002).
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PH AND THERMAL STABILITIES OF PEROXIDASE ISOLATED FROM RIPENING TOMATO FRUITS (SONALUM LYCOPERSICON)>
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