Abstract: Highly active acid invertase was found in the young leaf extract of mandarin orange Citrus reticulata Blanco). The invertase was isolated and purified from the young leaf extract of mandarin orange through the procedures of ammonium sulphate precipitation, DEAE-Sepharose column chromatography and Sephacryl S-200 gel filtration. 6.4% of the invertase activity was recovered. Invertase was 179.2-folds purified. The purified invertase preparation was homogeneous as shown in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Sephacryl S-200 molecular sieve chromatography. The molecular weight of the native invertase determined by gel filtration was 80 kD. The invertase consists of two identical subunits with apparent equal subunit weight of 40 kD as determined on SDS-PAGE. The invertase followed typical Michaelis-Menten Kinetics with apparent Km Of 1. 6 × 10-2 mol/L for sucrose. Vmax of the invertase was 100 mg reducing sugar · mg-1 protein · h-1 The optimum pH was 5.0 (stable from 4.5—5.5). The optimum temperature was 55℃.

Key words: Orange leaves, Invertase, Properties