A Simple and Rapid Method of Identification of Extracellular Plant Galactosidases

A simple, rapid, and sensitive procedure for the identification of plant extracellular - and -galactosidase is described using callus cultures of seedlings from the tested plant, roots of 4-6 day old seedlings of Californian poppy germinating on agar plates, and cell suspension cultures cultivated from callus cultures. Synthetic substrates were used for the determination of the intra- and extracellular activities of - and -galactosidase. Many imino- or azasugars are strong glycosidase inhibitors, and some of them show promising chemotherapeutic effects against viral disease and are potential antidiabetic as well as antitumor agents. This fact aroused our interest for a rapid and sensitive assay method of the activity of - and -galactosidases of plant origin. The results presented here show the perspective usefulness of extracellular galactosidases of plant origin in inhibitory and/or biotechnological studies.