Terminalia chebula fruit is used as folk medicine in India and Southeast Asia. An antioxidant protein was
isolated by bioassay guided fractionation of T. chebula fruit by homogenizing in the citrate phosphate buffer.
The isolated protein (TCP-III) obtained from fruit was purified by gel chromatography and preparative
HPLC, showed apparent molecular weight of 16 kDa by SDS–PAGE and MALDI-TOF/MS analyses. Amino
acid sequence obtained by LC–MSE analysis showed homology with the predicted protein fragments of
Populus trichocarpa, putative uncharacterized protein fragments from Oryza sativa and with fragments
of 17 kDa thylakoid lumenal protein from Spinacia oleracea. TCP-III exhibited significant radical scavenging
in DPPH, NO, H2O2 and ABTS assays. In addition, TCP-III inhibited oxidation of linoleic acid in b-carotene
bleaching assay, reduced ferric ions and chelated ferrous ions. The present finding demonstrates
uniquely, for the first time, characterization of an antioxidant protein from T. chebula fruit