Presence of fatty acid-degrading enzyme in a certain variety of peas (Pisum sativum hortense cv. Solara)

Pea (Pisum sativum) is the legume seed most used for pig and other animal feeding in Europe. enzyme with at least dual activities, dioxygenase and fatty acid lyase, has been isolated from P. sativum hortense cv. Solara seeds. This enzyme seems to differ from previously characterized lipoxygenase. P. sativum lipoxygenase is in many respects quite similar to Vicia sativa lipoxygenase, another leguminous family. The enzyme had a pH optimum at 5.8 and two activities that convert linoleic acid into two products: 9-hydroperoxylinoleic acid and 2,4-decadienal. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated at 114000 and its pI was 6.09. The dioxygenase and the lyase activities utilize directly linoleic acid as substrate; the existence of a new class of lipoxygenases which expressed two activities termed, respectively, dioxygenase and fatty acid lyase, is suggested