Cambon_2008_Biotechnol.Lett_30_769

The unripe fruit of babaco (Vasconcellea x heilbornii; syn. Carica pentagona) contains a latex, similar to that in Carica papaya, which exhibits lipolytic activity. Herein, the regioselectivity, stereoselectivity and typoselectivity in both hydrolysis and acyltransfer reactions of babaco latex lipases were studied and compared to those of Carica papaya latex. In hydrolysis, both biocatalysts are 1,3-regioselective with ratios for 1,2-2,3-diacylglycerols/1,3-diacylglycerol of 6.5 and 21 for babaco and papaya, respectively. In contrast, papaya latex had a slight sn-3 stereopreference. Babaco latex displayed a higher activity on triacylglycerols with short chain and unsaturated fatty acids.