Curculigo pilosa is traditionally used in themanufacture of sorghum beer in West Africa. b-Amylasewas puriÆed 100-fold with 38% yield from a crude ex-tract, giving Ænal speciÆc activities of 4850 U/mg and5650 U/mg using soluble starch and p-nitrophenylmaltopentaoside, respectively, as substrates. The mo-lecular mass of the monomeric enzyme was 64 kDa andits pI 4.2. Both activity and thermostability are higherthan reported for other plant b-amylases. The catalyticeÅciency was lower for amylose than for starches andamylopectin. In contrast to other plant amylases, theb-amylase from C. pilosa is able to degrade raw starchesfrom wheat, corn, potato and rice. In this respect, itresembles b-amylases from microbial origin. This prop-erty, and its high activity and stability, explain its traditional use in the manufacture of infant food andsorghum beer in Burkina Faso and could make it ap-plicable for other biotechnological purposes

PuriÆcation ,characterization, b-amylase