Purification and Characterization of a Novel Salt-tolerant Protease Produced by Saccharomyces sp. B101 Isolated from Baker's Dough Yeast

The proteolytic enzyme from Saccharomyces sp. B101 was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation, ultrafiltration, diethyl aminoethyl (DEAE)-Sephadex A-50 ion-exchange chromatography, and Sephadex G-100 gel filtration chromatography from the culture supernatant of Saccharomyces sp. B101. The specific activity and the purification fold of the purified enzyme were 4,688.9 unit/mg and 18, respectively. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 33 kDa by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The optimum pH and temperature for the enzyme activity were pH 8.5 and $30^{\circ}C$, respectively. The enzyme activity was relatively stable in the pH range of 6.5-8.5 at below $35^{\circ}C$. The salt-tolerance and stability for the enzyme activity were relatively stable even at NaCl concentrations of 10 and 15%. The activity of enzyme was inhibited by $Ag^{2+}$ and $Fe^{2+}$, and activated by $Mn^{2+}$. In addition, the enzyme activity was potently inhibited by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and phenylmethyl sulfonylfluoride (PMSF). Based on these findings we concluded that the purified enzyme was a serine protease. Km and Vmax values for hammastein milk casein were 1.02 mg/mL and 278.38 unit/mL, respectively.