Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the 60~% isopropanol extract of soybean(Glycine max [L.] Merr.) seed revealed two abundant proteins with molecular masses of 19 and 10 kDa. Amino acid analysis revealed that the isopropanol-extractable protein fraction was rich in cysteine. Two-dimensional gel electro-phoretic analysis indicated that the 19kDa and 10kDa proteins had pI of 4.2 and 4.0 respectively. Peptide mass fingerprints of trypsin digests of the two proteins obtained using matrix-assisted, laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectroscopy revealed the 19kDa protein was Kunitz trypsin inhibitor and the 10kDa protein was Bowman-Birk proteinase inhibitor. When resolved under non-denaturing conditions, the isopropanol-extracted proteins inhibited trypsin and chymotrypsin activity. Results presented in this study demonstrate that isopropanol extraction of soybean seed could be used as a simple and rapid method to obtain a protein fraction enriched in Kunitz trypsin and Bowman-Birk proteinase inhibitors. Since proteinase inhibitors are rich in sulfur amino acids and are putative anticarcinogens, this rapid and inexpensive isolation procedure could facilitate efforts in nutrition and cancer research.

• Hari B. Krishnan