Abstract

Three Ficus species, Ficus padana Burm.f., Ficus aurata (Miq) Miq. and Ficus racemosa L. were analyzed concerning total activity of crude enzymes, total protein and specific activity in their fruits and latex. To identify the primary proteins, SDS-PAGE characterized the crude extracts in terms of protein bands of different molecular weights. F. aurata displayed the highest total activity from the set of fruit samples at 9.02 U with a total of 4.830 mg of proteins and a specific of 1.870 U/mg. F. padana and F. racemosa had lower total activities (8.49 U and 8.56 U), with specific activities being 2.03 U/mg and 1.99 U/mg, respectively. F. racemosa latex had a two-fold increase in total activity of 24.01 U compared to F. aurata (7.35 U) and F. padana (8.67 U). The results showed a higher specific activity for F. racemosa latex, followed by F. aurata and then F. padana at 5.41 U/mg, 4.62 U/mg and 4.37 U/mg, respectively. Bands of around 35 kDa were visible in the latex preparations, indicating that the above-mentioned fraction of SDS-PAGE is enriched in proteolytic enzymes. The elevated levels of these particular enzymes in the latex correlated with the increased enzyme activity in F. racemosa. The results of this study contribute to knowledge of the enzymatic potential of species of the genus Ficus and its potential applications in biotechnology and the industry.