PURIFICATION OF PROTEINASES FROM CARICA-PAPAYA

A method is detailed for the fractionation and purification of cysteine proteinase from the latex of Carica papaya. The main advantages of this method are its ability to resolve complex mixtures based on small differences in the isoelectric points of the individual components, the amount of soluble material (ca 500 mg) which can be loaded, with quantitative recovery, and, unlike other high resolution analytical techniques, the lack of need for expensive equipment. The profile of proteinases is compared between unprocessed dried latex and fresh non-fruit latex, and possible reasons for the observed differences are discussed.