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Proteolytic Activity in the Genus Ficus ¹

Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, California 95616

The latices of only 13 of a total of 46 species of Ficus examined contained appreciable proteolytic activity. Therefore, high proteolytic activity in the latex is not a distinguishing feature of the genus. The latex of F. stenocarpa had the highest specific activity followed closely by the latices of F. carica and F. glabrata. Latices of 6 species of Ficus were examined by chromatography on CM-cellulose and compared with the results obtained for 9 varieties of F. carica. All of the latices were found to contain multiple proteolytic enzymes. Chromatographically, the multiple enzyme components of the several varieties of F. carica were more similar than those of the several species examined. The latices of 16 varieties of F. carica were all different as determined by free boundary electrophoresis although the specific proteolytic activity of the latices was reasonably constant.