Fractionation, amino acid profiles, antimicrobial and free radical scavenging activities of Citrullus lanatus seed protein.

In the present study, a modified Osborne fractionation method was followed to isolate albumin (Calb), globulin (Cglo), prolamin (Cpro) and glutelin (Cglu) successively from seeds of Citrullus lanatus (watermelon). This research work was undertaken to investigate the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of isolated protein fractions of C. lanatus seed. Amino acid composition and molecular weight distribution were determined to establish their relationship with antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. Among all the fractions, Cpro was found to be most effective against A. baumannii followed by Calb and Cglo. The results showed that growth of inhibition of these protein fractions differ significantly from each other (p ≤ 0.05). In view of antioxidant potential, Cglo exhibited strongest antioxidant capacity while Cglu showed weakest antioxidant potential.