Purification of <i>Moringa oleifera</i> Leaves Protease by Three-Phase Partitioning and Investigation of Its Potential Antibacterial Activity

Abstract

One of plant-based products for dental care is plant-based proteolytic en zymes which are principally proteases. In order not to damage the protein and bio active content, an efficient method should be employed for their purifications. As such, three-phase partitioning (TPP) was used to purify protease from mo ringa ( Moringa oleifera ). TPP is an emerging, promising, non-chromatogra phic and economical technology which is simple, quick, efficient and often one-step process for the separation and purification of bioactive molecules from natural sources. It involves the addition of salt (ammonium sulphate) to the crude extract followed by the addition of an organic solvent (butanol). The protein appears as an interfacial precipitate between upper organic solvent and lower aqueous phases. The various conditions such as ammonium sulphate, ratio of crude extract to t-butanol and pH which are required for attaining efficient purification of the protease fractions were optimized. Under optimized conditions, it was seen that, 35% of ammonium sulphate saturation with 1:0.75 ratio of crude extract to t-butanol at pH 7 gave 4.94-fold purification with 96.20% activity yield of protease in the middle phase of the TPP system. The purified enzyme from Moringa oleifera has no antimicrobial effect on the pathogenic bacteria tested. However, this purified enzyme, can be considered as a promising agent, cheap, and safe source which is suitable for using in various industries.