Three phase partitioning as a rapid and efficient method for purification of plant-esterase from wheat flour

Three-phase partitioning (TPP) was used to purify plant-esterase from wheat flour. Effect of various process parameters has been evaluated and plant-esterase was purified to 11.35-fold by optimized single step TPP system (50%, (w/v) (NH₄)₂SO₄ saturation, 1:1 (v/v) ratio of crude extract: t-butanol at pH 4).The enzyme was found to be exclusively partitioned in the aqueous phase. Using TPP system, plant-esterase quickly purified to homogeneity with very high purity and activity. On the basis of single factor research, purification process was optimized by using response surface method, established a new type of high efficient purification plant-esterase method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report for purification and characterization of plant-esterase by using three phase partitioning (TPP). The results indicated that, TPP is a simple, quick, economical and very attractive process for purification of plant-esterase compared to conventional chromatographic protocols.