RESUMO
Calotropis procera cysteine peptidases (CpCPs) have presented several potential biotechnological applications. Here, these enzymes were immobilized on glyoxyl-agarose (glyoxyl-CpCPs) with yields of 90-95 % and the recovered activities ranged from 10 % to 15 %, according to enzyme loadings (5, 10, 20, 40, and 50 mgBSAeq/g). Spectrophotometric assays and SDS-PAGE showed that the casein hydrolysis by glyoxyl-CpCPs was similar to soluble CpCPs. In addition, glyoxyl-CpCPs exhibited similar ratio of milk-clotting activity to proteolytic activity in comparison with soluble CpCPs and chymosin. Even after being stored for six months at 8 °C, the residual proteolytic activity of glyoxyl-CpCPs remained close to 100 %. Atomic force microscopy and dynamic light scattering techniques showed that the process of casein micelle aggregation after treatment with glyoxyl-CpCPs was very similar to its soluble form and chymosin. Glyoxyl-CpCPs performed well after five reaction cycles, producing cheeses with yield, moisture, protein, and fat similar to those produced with chymosin.
