Purification and Partial Properties of a Superoxide Dismutase from Agave Hybrid No.11648

A superoxide dismutase enzyme was extracted from the leaves of Agave Hybrid No.11648 using homogenisation, ammonium sulphate fractional precipitation, diethylaminoethyl cellulose ion exchange and Sephadex gel filtration chromatography. A superoxide dismutase parallelogram‐shaped crystal was formed after packing at 4 °C for two days. The optimum pH was 8, and the optimum temperature was 40 °C. The crystal was relatively stable at temperatures below 60 °C and at pH values from 5 to 10. The subunit size was determined to be approximately 27.5 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulphate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It was also demonstrated that the enzyme is an iron‐containing superoxide dismutase based on its sensitivity to inhibitors of potassium cyanide, hydrogen peroxide and chloroform‐ethanol and based on the results of ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy.