A comparative study of some biochemical characteristics of peroxidase isoenzymes in rosemary plant (Rosmarinus officinalis L.)

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) includes species that have high drug and nutritional values. Considering the importance of the antioxidant enzyme system as an effective factor in increasing the resistance of plants to different environmental stresses, in this research, some biochemical properties of catalase and peroxidase enzymes of rosemary plants were investigated in three different situations.

Rosemary plant was kept at home after being prepared from the greenhouse. For live situation, leaves were extracted directly and for carved situations, they were first airborne for 10 days. For dried sample, plant leaves were exposed to air during 10 days at first and then were completely dried for 2 minutes with 100% microwave power. Extraction of all 3 samples was done separately. The catalase (EC 1.11.1.6) and peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.7) enzymes were extracted from the leaves using 0.1 pH phosphate buffer with pH 7.2.

According to results, the presence of an isoenzyme catalase with pH optimum 7 and three isoenzymes of peroxidase with optimum pH of 5 and 7 was confirmed in this plant by gel electrophoresis of Rosemary extract. In the enzyme peroxidase, the active isoenzymes in pH 5 were more resistant to temperature rising in the live plant compared to active isoenzyme at pH. Also, the catalase enzyme had higher resistance compared to peroxidase and its activity increased during stress.

This study showed that rosemary plant is an inexpensive and available source for the extraction of antioxidative compounds such as catalase and peroxidase enzymes. Also, this research with the gaining of more effective herbal ingredients can be of great help to the pharmaceutical industry.