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Presence of peptidase activities in different varieties of cheese
Author(s) -
Gatti M.,
Fornasari M. E.,
Mucchetti G.,
Addeo F.,
Neviani E.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2672.1999.00541.x
Subject(s) - autolysis (biology) , lactic acid , cheese ripening , casein , bacteria , food science , ripening , starter , biochemistry , aminopeptidase , chemistry , fermentation starter , biology , enzyme , amino acid , leucine , genetics
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts, PepX activity towards H‐Phe‐Pro‐βNA, and aminopeptidase activity towards H‐Arg‐βNA.HCl, H‐Lys‐βNA, H‐Leu‐βNA, H‐Pro‐βNA, H‐Glu‐βNA derivatives have been evaluated in 32 commercial samples of cheese, one processed cheese, and one yoghurt. The presence of intracellular exo‐peptidase activities in cheese extracts free from bacterial cells was detected, even after 1 year of ripening. An inverse ratio between the presence of viable lactic microflora and peptidase activity in the cheese extracts was observed. The importance of LAB starter exo‐peptidases in the degradation of casein oligopeptides, and the key role of autolysis in the release of peptidases in the cheese, are discussed.