Proteins and Enzymes from Marine Resources

Sea products are valuable resources of natural substances such as lipids, polysaccharides, enzymes, vitamins, and proteins. In this issue, a variety of fish proteases (trypsin, alcalase, etc.) have been characterized and sometimes purified. Many of these enzymes display potentially interesting new biochemical properties for industrial applications. Their potential adequacy for biotechnological applications such as chitin extraction was demonstrated. Biochemical characteristics of crude alkaline protease extracts from the viscera of goby (Zosterisessor ophiocephalus), thornback ray (Raja clavata), and scorpionfish (Scorpaena scrofa) were studied. At least four caseinolytic proteases bands were observed in zymogram of each enzyme preparation. These proteolytic preparations were successfully used in the deproteinization of shrimp wastes for chitin extraction. Furthermore, a trypsin was purified from the pyloric ceca of Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) using chromatographic methods. The cod trypsin was successfully applied to catalyze dipeptide synthesis using series of “inverse substrates.” A Mackerel trypsin was also purified from defatted viscera by supercritical carbon dioxide, and its biochemical properties were studied.