Purificação, caracterização bioquímica e atividade biológica de um inibidor de tripsina da torta da mamona (Ricinus communis L.)

Abstract

The castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) culture is of great socioeconomic importance because of its seeds, which are used mainly for production of oil that can be used for various industrial purposes. The oil extraction generates a by-product of high nutritional value known as the castor cake. However, the presence of toxic and allergenic compounds hinders the use of this residue to feeding source. Another way to add value to the castor cake would be to seek bioactive molecules that could have applications in agriculture and human health. This study aimed to purify and characterize a trypsin inhibitor of castor cake and, to test this in vitro activity against phytopathogenic fungi of agricultural importance and proteases from the midgut of Aedes aegypti. The trypsin inhibitor of castor cake, named RcTI, was purified by heat treatment, affinity column in anhydrotrypsin-Sepharose® 4B and ion-exchange chromatography ResourceTM Q. RcTI has a apparent molecular mass of 14 kDa in the absence or presence of a reducing agent, pI 5.2 and isn’t a glycoprotein. The NH2-terminal sequence of purified RcTI showed 83% similarity with sulfur-rich storage protein (2S albumin) R. communis and 48% with napin-like (2S albumin) R. communis. The RcTI was stable after heat treatment at 98 °C for two hours. The inhibition on trypsin was stable in the acid pH range. However, there was a loss of approximately 20% inhibitory effect on alkaline pH (pH 8-11). The RcTI (13 µg) was unable to inhibit the germination of spores of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium solani. However, it was able to inhibit the germination of spores of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. RcTI 100 µg was not effective in the inhibition of vegetative growth of the fungi mentioned above. This inhibitor was effective against proteases from the midgut of Aedes aegypti with 91% inhibition. The results of the present study indicate that RcTI has biotechnological potential, can be used as an alternative to combat the important plant pathogenic fungus C. gloeosporioides and larvae of A. aegypti.