Abstract
A collagenolytic enzyme was purified to homogeneity from the activated pancreatic extract of the catfish Parasilurus asotus by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, hydroxylapatite, and Cellulofine columns. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 29, 500 by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme is capable of degrading native, reconstituted calf skin collagen fibrils at pH 7.5 and 37°C, and also of reducing the viscosity of native calf skin collagen at pH 7.5 and 20°C. The SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of thermally denatured enzyme-collagen reaction mixtures showed that the enzyme can cleave peptide bonds in the non-helical and triple-helical regions of the collagen. The enzyme was inhibited by DFP, PMSF, soybean trypsin inhibitor, and chicken ovoinhibitor, but not by metal-chelating reagents EDTA, EGTA, o-phenanthroline, or L-cysteine. These results indicate that the enzyme is a unique collagenolytic proteinase belonging to the group of serine proteinases and is a new member of the class of pancreatic enzymes.
