ABSTRACT
Extracellular proteases from Brevundimonas diminuta (syn. Pseudomonas diminuta) were studied in sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) containing a copolymerized substrate. Two proteases were detected migrating at 67kDa and 50 kDa: both of them hydrolysed preferentially gelatin, but casein was also degraded and a slight hydrolysis was observed with hemoglobin. No detectable extracellular proteolytic activity was found in bovine serum albumin-containing gels. The optima temperature and pH for proteolytic activity were between 40ºC and 50ºC in a pH ranging from 7.0 to 11.0, respectively. These enzymes were isolated by analytical high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Proteases assays with the synthetic substrate Z-Phe-Arg-MCA and inhibitors EGTA, EDTA and 1, 10 phenanthroline point out that these enzymes are metalloproteases.