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Metabolism and Enzymology

Isolation and Partial Characterization of a Subtilisin Inhibitor from the Mung Bean (Vigna radiata) ¹

Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, New York 13901

The subtilisin inhibitor (MBSI-A) from the mung bean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) seed has been purified to homogeneity. MBSI-A consists of a single polypeptide chain of 119 residues, with a high content of glutamic acid/glutamine, aspartic acid/asparagine, valine, threonine, and proline (19, 12, 10, 9, and 8 residue percent, respectively). MBSI-A is a potent inhibitor of subtilisin Carlsberg, but is inactive toward bovine trypsin and -chymotrypsin and the plant cysteinyl proteinase papain. The MBSI is located exclusively in the cytosol of the seed cotyledon cell, unlike the mung bean trypsin inhibitor (MBTI), which is located primarily in the protein bodies. Both MBSI and MBTI accumulate in the seed during the most active period of reserve protein accumulation, 12 to 18 days after flowering. During germination MBSI, like MBTI, is broken down beginning 2 to 3 days after seed imbibition. The disappearance of MBSI-A is accompanied by the transient appearance of a new inhibitor species, MBSI-D. The amino acid composition of MBSI-D suggests that it may be produced by the loss of approximately 20 amino acid residues from MBSI-A.