Separation of proteolytic enzymes originating from Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) by capillary electrophoresis

Extracts prepared from Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), mainly consisting of acidic proteolytic enzymes, have been studied with capillary electrophoretic techniques. Approximately 50 repeatable peaks were obtained with capillary zone electrophoresis on an untreated fused-silica capillary using a phosphate buffer containing anionic and cationic fluorosurfactant additives as separation medium. A faster separation was achieved on a polyvinyl alcohol coated capillary. Quantitative variations of individual proteins regarding different krill enzyme batches were noted. In the krill samples trypsin-like serine proteinase, carboxypeptidase A and carboxypeptidase B were tentatively identified.