Study of the high-energy electron-beam irradiation induced damage on the model protein horseradish peroxidase

As one kind of charged energetic particles, high-energy electron-beam (e-beam) can kill bacteria effectively; and because of its advantages of low-cost and high-efficiency, e-beam has been widely applied in food sterilization and storage industry as well as biomedical areas. However, currently we still lack the in-depth understanding of the mechanism of the interactions between high-energy particles and biological systems. To this end, we thus initiated the study of e-beam induced damage of horseradish peroxidase (HRP: horseradish peroxidase). Our results revealed that the e-beam induced damage of HRP was mainly through the hydroxyl radical attack on the polypeptide chains, and at the same time, the heme active site of HRP was also injured by the reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the electron-beam. This hydroxyl radical damage mechanism is different from the hydrogen peroxide damage mechanism that plays the dominant role in non-thermal plasma treatment as we reported previously. Moreover, by using the ROS and free radical scavengers, we analyzed and identified the major factors that contributed to the HRP damages. (authors)