Degradation of ubiquitin in beef during storage

• Published in: Meat science Vol. 48; no. 3; pp. 201 - 204
• Main Authors: Sekikawa, M., Seno, K., Mikami, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-03-1998; Elsevier
• Subjects: beef; Biological and medical sciences; cold storage; contractile proteins; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Meat and meat product industries; postmortem changes; protein degradation; sarcoplasmic proteins; ubiquitin; Ubiquitin; Meat product; Beef; Warehousing; Proteolysis; Protein
• ISSN: 0309-1740; 1873-4138
• DOI: 10.1016/S0309-1740(97)00090-9

Sarcoplasmic proteins were prepared from the
quadriceps femoris muscle immediately after slaughter (2.5 hr) and from stored muscle samples at 10 days
post mortem for SDS-PAGE analysis and Western blotting. Characterization with ubiquitin antiserum (Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA) showed clear and strong recognition of ubiquitin (8.6 kDa) and another minor band (17 kDa) in purified ubiquitin (Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA). Among the sarcoplasmic proteins prepared, this antiserum also reacted with the bands corresponding to purified ubiquitin (8.6 kDa and 17 kDa) and a small amount of some other higher-molecularmass proteins which were considered to be ubiquitin-protein conjugates. However, at 10 days
post mortem, both ubiquitin and the ubiquitin-protein conjugates had almost disappeared, suggesting their degradation by proteinases.