PURIFICATION OF A NEW PEROXIDASE CATALYZING THE FORMATION OF LIGNAN-TYPE COMPOUNDS

A novel peroxidase that catalyses the dimerization of ferulic acid or caffeic acid via oxidative coupling and formation of beta-beta'-linkage to the lignan-type compounds 8,8'-bis(caffeic acid) or 8,8'-bis(ferulic acid) respectively was purified from the leaves of Bupleurum salicifolium. The enzyme, for which the name caffeate peroxidase is proposed, was purified 2700-fold. It is a glycoprotein and has an M(r) of 38000 as determined by gel filtration and SDS/PAGE. The K(m) values for ferulic acid and caffeic acid were 0.24 mM and for H2O2 0.04 mM with caffeic acid and 0.48 mM with ferulic acid. The purified peroxidase does not exhibit activity on other phenylpropanoids tested and has no detectable phenol oxidase or NADPH oxidase activity. The caffeate peroxidase could be involved in the biosynthesis of lignans.