Peptides Identified during Emmental Cheese Ripening:  Origin and Proteolytic Systems Involved

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry Vol. 49; no. 9; pp. 4402 - 4413
• Main Authors: Gagnaire, Valérie, Mollé, Daniel, Herrouin, Maryse, Léonil, Joëlle
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01-09-2001
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Caseins - metabolism; Cheese - analysis; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Fibrinolysin - metabolism; Food engineering; Food Handling; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Life Sciences; Mass Spectrometry; Milk and cheese industries. Ice creams; Peptide Hydrolases - metabolism; Proteins - metabolism; Time Factors; Lactic acid bacteria; Serine endopeptidases; Peptides; Enzyme; Organoleptic properties; HPLC chromatography; Cheese; Emmental; Identification; Flavor; Texture; Plasmin; Ripening; Peptidases; Casein; Proteolysis; Hydrolases; Aspartic endopeptidases; Cathepsin D; Mass spectrometry
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf000895z

To determine the proteolytic changes occurring during Emmental cheese ripening, peptides released in cheese aqueous phase were analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC and identified by tandem mass spectrometry sequencing, for which different strategies were illustrated by some examples. Among the 91 peptides identified, most of them arose from αs1- (51) and β-caseins (28), and a few arose from αs2- (9) and κ-caseins (1). An attempt was made to correlate the released peptides with the proteolytic systems potentially involved during Emmental cheese manufacture. Besides the well-known action of plasmin on β- and αs2-caseins, and in the absence of residual fungal coagulant from Endothia parasitica, two other proteinases seem to be involved in the hydrolysis of αs1-casein in Emmental cheese:  cathepsin D originated from milk and cell-envelope proteinase from thermophilic starters. Moreover, peptidases from starters were also active throughout ripening, presumably like those from nonstarter lactic acid bacteria, in contrast to those from propionic acid bacteria. Keywords: Tandem mass spectrometry; Emmental cheese; peptides;, proteinase; peptidase; thermophilic lactic acid bacteria; cathepsin D; plasmin; secondary ripening flora