Isolation and Characteristics of Polyphenol Oxidase from Jerusalem Artichoke Tuber

Polyphenol oxidase from Jerusalem artichoke(Helianthus tuberosus L.) tubers was partially purified by precipitation with ammonium sulfate, followed by gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. The enzyme showed maximal activity at pH 6.5 and . Kinetic studies indicated value of 3 mM for catechol and activation energy of 72.6 kcal/mole. As for substrate specificity of polyphenol oxidase the enzyme showed high affinity towards diphenol compounds, but not towards monophenols. The enzamatic browning was completely inhibited at 1 mM concentration of L-ascorbic acid, sodium hydrosulfite and L-cystein(HCl). The activity of polyphenol oxidase in 0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer(pH 6.5) was fairly stable for a week at , while it decreased remarkably at .