A New Amylolytic Enzyme present in Cabbage Leaves (Brassica oleracea var. capitata)

A new type of amylase was found to exist in Cabbage leaves. The juice obtained by crushing and pressing cabbage leaves was salted out with ammonium sulfate and the resulting precipitate was dialyzed against a buffer solution containing Ca2+, pH 5. 0. The dialyzed enzyme was then gel-filtered on a Sephadex G-200 and the top fraction, in which a high activity of hydrolyzing maltose was showed, was treated with EDTA and p-chloromercuri-benzoate to inactivate contaminating α- and β-amylase. The enzyme so obtained was observed to produce glucose from starch without accumulation of any other sugars. On a low concentration of maltose the enzyme produced only glucose. However, it produced several oligosaccharides when reacted on a high concentration of maltose. The author suggested to refer the enzyme to transglucosyl-amylase.