Effect of Organic Solvents and Osmolytes on the Activity and Stability of the Protease Purified from Ficus johannis

The use of enzymes in organic solvents represents an important area of industrial and biotechnological development. However, organic solvents often cause protein denaturation, thereby reducing the activity and stability of enzymes. Use of stabilizing additives, protein engineering and chemical modification of enzymes are common strategies to overcome this problem. In this study, a cysteine protease from the latex of Ficus johannis was purified and the activity and stability of the protease were investigated in the presence of different organic solvents. The effect of trehalose, sorbitol, and sucrose on the enzyme activity was also studied in the presence of organic solvents. The results showed that the enzyme activity was elevated in the presence of low concentrations of organic solvents increased, while it was decreased with increasing concentration of organic solvents. However, the enzyme still retained 60% of its activity at 30% organic solvent concentration. The enzyme was considerably stable in the presence of organic solvents, maintaining almost 90% of its stability in the presence of 50% of all solvents. As stabilizing additives, sugars enhanced the catalytic activity and stability of the enzyme, and trehalose was the most effective sugar. The easy purification procedure and considerable activity and stability of the protease in the presence of organic solvents could suggest this enzyme as a good candidate for peptide synthesis industry.