Cyclic amide amidohydrolase activities in Pisum sativum hulls

Cyclic amide amidohydrolases are important biocatalysts for the in vitro synthesis of chiral amino acids. This paper is the first description of the occurrence of three cyclic amide amidohydrolase activities in hulls, by-products of pea crop. Partial purification of these cyclic amide amidohydrolases extracted from hulls of Pisum sativum revealed the presence of dihydropyrimidinase, -hydantoinase and -hydantoinase activities. Our study shows that diversity of cyclic amide amidohydrolases also exists in plants such as legume seeds, since cyclic amide amidohydrolases from pea hulls were shown to hydrolyse dihydrouracil, hydantoin, -MMEH and -MMEH.