Invertase (INV) may influence sugar levels and assimilate transport in strawberry fruit. Several groups, including our own, have only detected acid INV (optimum pH 4.6) in strawberry fruit, however, recently Hubbard et al. (Physiol. Plant. 82:191-196, 1991) reported the presence of a neutral INV (pH 7.5). Since dissimilar isolation protocols may have contributed to the different findings, we re-examined our work with developing `Brighton' strawberry using the extraction procedure of Hubbard et al. Neutral INV activity per gFW (pH 7.5-8.0) increased many fold as fruit developed from green to the red ripe stage. Acid INV activity decreased markedly from green-white to the red stage. In addition, when fruit extracts were precipitated with cold acetone, a pellet contained 60% of the acid INV activity, and a surface coagulation of protein contained 60% of the neutral INV activity. This allowed easy separation of these two enzymes. Extraction methodologies affect isolation of neutral INV activity from strawberry fruit.
Lipases and proteases inhibition by Averrhoa carambola L. fruit extracts
