Properties of Partially Purified Rhodanese from Leaves of Cassava in Owo Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: Rhodanese is a transferase enzyme that catalyses detoxification of cyanide. Cyanide is popular for its presence in a wide variety of food materials that are consumed by animals especially man. In this work, we investigated the partially purified rhodanese from cassava leaves in order to ascertain its suitability for cyanide detoxification in cassava tuber. Crude rhodanense was subjected to 80% (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 precipitation, the percentage yield and purification fold obtained was 68% and 4 respectively. The degree of substrate preference was Na 2 S 2 O 3 >2-mercaptoethanol>ammonium persulphate>sodium metabisulfite>sodium sulfite. Apparent K m and V max were 18.2 mM and 13.9 RU/ml respectively. While that of Na 2 S 2 O 3 were 10.9 mM and 5.8 RU/ml respectively. The substrate specificity V max /K m revealed that KCN was a better substrate. The optimum pH and temperature of rhodanese from cassava leaves were 6.0 and 40°C respectively. Result: The information provided by this study can be exploited for understanding cyanide distribution and detoxification of cassava.