Inhibitors of human and bovine trypsin and chymotrypsin in fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) seeds. Reaction with the human and bovine proteinases.

The reaction between the three Bowman-Birk proteinase inhibitors isolated from fenugreek seeds (TFI-B2, TFI-N2 and TFI-A8) and the human and bovine proteinases was investigated by studying the complexes formed and their properties. TFI-B2, the Lys-Leu trypsin chymotrypsin inhibitor, can bind 1.9 mol human trypsin (HT), 1.3 mol bovine trypsin (BT) and/or 0.4 mol human (HCT) or bovine (BCT) chymotrypsin per mole of inhibitor. HT was bound at the two reactive sites and BT mainly at the lysine-containing trypsin-reactive site, whereas HCT and BCT were only bound at the leucine-containing chymotrypsin-reactive site. TFI-N2, the Arg-Leu trypsin chymotrypsin inhibitor, could bind 1 mol BT and BCT, but 1.3 mol HT and 1.2 mol HCT per mole of inhibitor. In addition to the usual binding, the human enzymes could also be bound at the respective "wrong" reactive site. TFI-A8, the Arg-Arg trypsin inhibitor, binds 2 mol HT or BT per mole of inhibitor at the two trypsin-reactive sites, whereas HCT and BCT (about 0.2 mol/mol) are bound to one of the two "wrong" reactive sites.