Extraction of alliinase from garlic

Presenter: Sabrina Blais

Co-Presenter(s):
Julia Balcu

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 22-23

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Monica Lares

Department: Chemistry

Funding Source/Sponsor: Class Project

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1IwuuI1Ouwkih4YAXMhsgpLd5X8mkYthO

Abstract:
Allicin is an adaptation of the garlic plant to defend itself from herbivores. When the garlic bulb is damaged, alliin contained in the plant is converted to allicin by the enzyme alliinase. We have extracted and purified alliinase from garlic, first by precipitation and then by size-exclusion chromatography. We then measured its effect on alliin by spectrophotometry at all three stages during the purification process: the unfiltered protein, the precipitated protein and the protein filtered by size-exclusion chromatography.