Considerations on endopolygalacturonase activity and determination of comparison ratios with emphasis on the influence of the degree of substrate esterification.

A study on the determination and standardization of endopolygalacturonase (EPG) activity is reported, with emphasis on the influence of the degree of substrate esterification using pure yeast EPG. Differences in the results, depending on how the EPG activity unit was defined, are described and discussed. From a theoretical analysis of the expressions established, a general equation for expressing EPG activity in standard international units was obtained, together with the proportional coefficient for each of the substrates studied. It was observed that for a wide range of enzyme concentrations good linear correlations were obtained. Analysis of the comparison ratio (CR) values calculated revealed that these do not differ significantly, except for low-methoxyl apple pectin, confirming the validity of the general expression obtained for pectins with different degrees of esterification. The anomalous CR value found for low-methoxyl (LM) apple pectin is discussed.