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The individual roles of hydrolysis of αS1- and ß-caseins, and calcium solubilization on the fracture properties of semi-hard cheeses, such as Maasdam and other eye-type cheeses, remain unclear. In this study, the hydrolysis patterns of casein were selectively altered by adding a chymosin inhibitor to the curd/whey mixture during cheese manufacture, by substituting fermentation-produced bovine chymosin (FPBC) with fermentation-produced camel chymosin (FPCC), or by modulating ripening temperature. Moreover, the level of insoluble calcium during ripening was quantified in all cheeses. Addition of a chymosin inhibitor, substitution of FPBC with FPCC, or ripening of cheeses at a consistent low temperature (8 °C) decreased the hydrolysis of αS1-casein by ~95%, ~45%, or ~30%, respectively, after 90 d of ripening, whereas ~35% of ß-casein was hydrolysed in that time for all cheeses, except for those ripened at a lower temperature (~17%). The proportion of insoluble calcium as a percentage of total calcium decreased significantly from ~75% to ~60% between 1 and 90 d. The rigidity or strength of the cheese matrix was found to be higher (as indicated by higher fracture stress) in cheeses with lower levels of proteolysis or higher levels of intact caseins, primarily αS1-casein. However, contrary to the expectation that shortness of cheese texture is associated with αS1-casein hydrolysis, fracture strain was significantly positively correlated with the level of intact ß-casein and insoluble calcium content, indicating that the cheeses with low levels of intact ß-casein or insoluble calcium content were more likely to be shorter in texture (i.e., lower fracture strain). Overall, this study suggests that the fracture properties of cheese can be modified by selective hydrolysis of caseins, altering the level of insoluble calcium or both. Such approaches could be applied to design cheese with specific properties.

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Bovine chymosin is an aspartic protease that selectively cleaves the milk protein kappa-casein. The enzyme is widely used to promote milk clotting in cheese manufacturing. We have developed models of residues 97-112 of bovine kappa-casein complexed with bovine chymosin, using ligand docking, conformational search algorithms, and molecular dynamics simulations. In agreement with limited experimental evidence, the model suggests that the substrate binds in an extended conformation with charged residues on either side of the scissile bond playing an important role in stabilizing the binding pose. Lys111 and Lys112 are observed to bind to the N-terminal domain of chymosin displacing a conserved water molecule. A cluster of histidine and proline residues (His98-Pro99-His100-Pro101-His102) in kappa-casein binds to the C-terminal domain of the protein, where a neighboring conserved arginine residue (Arg97) is found to be important for stabilizing the binding pose. The catalytic site (including the catalytic water molecule) is stable in the starting conformation of the previously proposed general acid/base catalytic mechanism for 18 ns of molecular dynamics simulations.

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The action of calf chymosin obtained from transgenic sheep milk and the recombinant protein expressed in yeast Kluyveromyces lactis (Maxiren) on fluorogenic peptide substrates, namely Abz-A-A-F-F-A-A-Ded, Abz-A-A-F-F-A-A-pNA, Abz-A-F-F-A-A-Ded, Abz-A-A-F-F-A-Ded, Abz-A-A-F-F-Ded, Abz-A-A-F-F-pNA, and heptapeptide L-S-F-M-A-I-P-NH2, a fragment of kappa-casein (the native chymosin substrate), was investigated. It has been established that transgenic chymosin and recombinant chymosin (Maxiren) differ from the native enzyme in their action on low molecular weight substrates, whereas there was no difference in enzymatic action on protein substrates. Pepstatin, a specific inhibitor of aspartic proteinases, inhibits the recombinant chymosin forms less efficiently than the native enzyme. Perhaps this is associated with local conformational changes in the substrate binding site of recombinant chymosin occurring during the formation of the protein globule.

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Full fat, milled-curd Cheddar cheeses (2 kg) were manufactured with 0.0 (control), 0.1, 1.0, or 10.0 micromol of pepstatin (a potent competitive inhibitor of chymosin) added per liter of curds/whey mixture at the start of cooking to obtain residual chymosin levels that were 100, 89, 55, and 16% of the activity in the control cheese, respectively. The cheeses were ripened at 8 degrees C for 180 d. There were no significant differences in the pH values of the cheeses; however, the moisture content of the cheeses decreased with increasing level of pepstatin addition. The levels of pH 4.6-soluble nitrogen in the 3 cheeses with added pepstatin were significantly lower than that of the control cheese at 1 d and throughout ripening. Densitometric analysis of urea-PAGE electro-phoretograms of the pH 4.6-insoluble fractions of the cheese made with 10.0 micromol/L of pepstatin showed complete inhibition of hydrolysis of alpha(S1)-casein (CN) at Phe23-Phe24 at all stages of ripening. The level of insoluble calcium in each of 4 cheeses decreased significantly during the first 21 d of ripening, irrespective of the level of pepstatin addition. Concurrently, there was a significant reduction in hardness in each of the 4 cheeses during the first 21 d of ripening. The softening of texture was more highly correlated with the level of insoluble calcium than with the level of intact alpha(S1)-CN in each of the 4 cheeses early in ripening. It is concluded that hydrolysis of alpha(S1)-CN at Phe23-Phe24 is not a prerequisite for softening of Cheddar cheese during the early stages of ripening. We propose that this softening of texture is principally due to the partial solubilization of colloidal calcium phosphate associated with the para-CN matrix of the curd.

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Proteolytic specificities of human pepsin A and monkey chymosin were investigated with a variety of oligopeptides as substrates. Human pepsin A had a strict preference for hydrophobic/aromatic residues at P'1, while monkey chymosin showed a diversified preferences accommodating charged residues as well as hydrophobic/aromatic ones. A comparison of residues forming the S'1 subsite between mammalian pepsins A and chymosins demonstrated the presence of conservative residues including Tyr(189), Ile(213), and Ile(300) and group-specific residues in the 289-299 loop region near the C terminus. The group-specific residues consisted of hydrophobic residues in pepsin A (Met(289), Leu/Ile/Val(291), and Leu(298)) and charged or polar residues in chymosins (Asp/Glu(289) and Gln/His/Lys(298)). Because the residues in the loop appeared to be involved in the unique specificities of respective types of enzymes, site-directed mutagenesis was undertaken to replace pepsin-A-specific residues by chymosin-specific ones and vice versa. A yeast expression vector for glutathione-S-transferase fusion protein was newly developed for expression of mutant proteins. The specificities of pepsin-A mutants could be successfully altered to the chymosin-like preference and those of chymosin mutants, to pepsin-like specificities, confirming residues in the S'1 loop to be essential for unique proteolytic properties of the enzymes. An increase in preference for charged residues at P'1 in pepsin-A mutants might have been due to an increase in the hydrogen-bonding interactions. In chymosin mutants, the reverse is possible. The changes in the catalytic efficiency for peptides having charged residues at P'1 were dominated by k(cat) rather than K(m) values.

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Pepsinogens A and C, and prochymosin were purified from four species of adult New World monkeys, namely, common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus), squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus), and capuchin monkey (Cebus apella). The occurrence of prochymosin was quite unique since this zymogen is known to be neonate-specific and, in primates, it has been thought that the prochymosin gene is not functional. No multiple form has been detected for any type of pepsinogen except that two pepsinogen-A isozymogens were identified in capuchin monkey. Pepsins A and C, and chymosin hydrolyzed hemoglobin optimally at pH 2-2.5 with maximal activities of about 20, 30, and 15 units/mg protein. Pepsins A were inhibited in the presence of an equimolar amount of pepstatin, and chymosins and pepsins C needed 5- and 100-fold molar excesses of pepstatin for complete inhibition, respectively. Hydrolysis of insulin B chain occurred first at the Leu15-Tyr16 bond in the case of pepsins A and chymosins, and at either the Leu15-Tyr16 or Tyr16-Leu17 bond in the case of pepsins C. The presence of different types of pepsins might be advantageous to New World monkeys for the efficient digestion of a variety of foods. Molecular cloning of cDNAs for three types of pepsinogens from common marmoset was achieved. A phylogenetic tree of pepsinogens based on the nucleotide sequence showed that common marmoset diverged from the ancestral primate about 40 million years ago.

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In the crystal structure of uncomplexed native chymosin, the beta-hairpin at the active site, known as 'the flap', adopts a different conformation from that of other aspartic proteinases. This conformation would prevent the mode of binding of substrates/inhibitors generally found in other aspartic proteinase complexes. We now report the X-ray analysis of chymosin complexed with a reduced bond inhibitor CP-113972 ¿(2R,3S)-isopropyl 3-[(L-prolyl-p-iodo-L-phenylalanyl-S-methyl-cysteinyl)amino-4]-cyclohexy l-2-hydroxybutanoate¿ at 2.3 A resolution in a novel crystal form of spacegroup R32. The structure has been refined by restrained least-squares methods to a final R-factor of 0.19 for a total of 11 988 independent reflections in the resolution range 10 to 2.3 A. The extended beta-strand conformation of the inhibitor allows hydrogen bonds within the active site, while its sidechains make both electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions with residues lining the specificity pockets S4-->S1. The flap closes over the active site cleft in a way that closely resembles that of other previously determined aspartic proteinase inhibitor complexes. We conclude that the usual position and conformation of the flap found in other aspartic proteinases is available to native chymosin. The conformation observed in the native crystal form may result from intermolecular interactions between symmetry-related molecules in the crystal lattice.

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The aspartic proteinase from yeast vacuoles, proteinase-A, has been crystallized with and without non-hydrolysable transition-state analogue inhibitors. The native enzyme crystals belong to the space group I2(1)2(1)2(1), with two molecules per asymmetric unit. The inhibitor complex crystals are trigonal with space group P3(2)21 and with one molecule in the asymmetric unit. Preliminary X-ray analysis of both native enzyme and its complexes indicate that the complexes diffract to higher resolution than the native crystals. This is probably due to reduced flexibility in the enzyme-inhibitor complex.

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Chymosin molecules in the crystal lattice have Tyr77 occluding the S1/S3 substrate binding pockets suggesting that the enzyme is self-inhibited. An analysis of this structure in conjunction with its comparison with pepsin has shown that this is most probably an intrinsic property of the enzyme. It also indicates that chymosin's substrate specificity may be dependent upon the ability of the substrate to displace the tyrosine ring from the binding pockets. This analysis also implies that active and self-inhibited forms of other aspartic proteinases can exist in solution helping to explain the results of kinetic studies of these enzymes.

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The effect of alpha 2-macroglobulin, one of the major antiproteinases in the plasma of vertebrates, on the action of the aspartic proteinases chymosin, cathepsin D and cathepsin E towards peptide and protein substrates at pH 6.2 was examined. Activities towards protein substrates were blocked, thus demonstrating that alpha 2-macroglobulin can inhibit aspartic proteinases, in addition to serine proteinases, cysteine proteinases and metalloproteinases.

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Chymase, the major neutral protease of the rat serosal mast cell (RMC) secretory granule, causes RMC to release their secretory granules and to oxidatively metabolize endogenous arachidonic acid to prostaglandin D2 (PGD2). The granule markers, endogenous beta-hexosaminidase and exogenously added [3H]serotonin, were released from 2.5 X 10(5) RMC in 50 microliters in parallel and in dose-response fashion, reaching a maximum net percent release of approximately 50% with 0.5 to 1.0 units chymase (15 U/mg)/ml. With incremental concentrations of chymase, the release of granule markers occurred with a shorter lag period and in a greater maximal net percent, whereas the release of PGD2 was dose-related without a reduction in latency to detectable generation. Inhibition of the esterase activity of chymase with lima bean trypsin inhibitor decreased the subsequent mast cell response, indicating that the active site of chymase was required to initiate granule secretion and PGD2 generation. The monophasic indomethacin-resistant rise in cellular cAMP at 15 to 45 sec coincident with the onset of chymase-induced mediator release and PGD2 secretion is similar to that observed with IgE receptor-initiated coupled activation-secretion. The ability of heparin to block the activation function of chymase without inhibition of esterase activity reveals a possible physiologic regulatory mechanism for limiting the potential action of secreted chymase.

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The activity of chymase was markedly inhibited by fatty acids with carbon chain lengths of 14-22 at doses greater than 0.02 microM, irrespective of the number of double bonds. Cis acids with a carbon chain length of 18, such as stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid were potent inhibitors, whereas the trans isomer of oleic acid, elaidic acid, showed less inhibitory activity. The extent of inhibition by oleyl alcohol was almost the same as that by oleic acid, suggesting that the acid moiety itself was not necessary for the inhibition; but a fatty acid with a terminal functional amide, oleamide, showed little inhibitory activity. The inhibition was noncompetitive and was reversible, and the Ki value of oleic acid was 2.7 microM. Stearic acid and oleic acid inhibited all chymotrypsin-type serine endopeptidases tested. The ID50 values of these fatty acids for atypical mast cell protease were higher than those for the other chymotrypsin-type serine endopeptidases tested. Other proteases, such as papain, trypsin, collagenase, and carboxypeptidase A, except cathespin D, were not affected by stearic or oleic acid.

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Chicken pepsinogen was incubated at pH2.5 with pepstatin. The zymogen activated itself by a sequential mechanism and an intact peptide derived from residues 1-26 in the protein was released in the first step. This peptide was found to inhibit the milk-clotting activities of pig and chicken pepsins and calf chymosin but to different extents.

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The rat mast cell granule chymotrypsinlike enzyme was purified to homogeneity from 1 M NaCl solubilized membrane and granule-rich fractions of concentrated rat peritoneal mast cells by a preparative technique utilizing chromatography on Dowex 1, filtration on Sephadex G-75, and affinity chromatography with D-tryptophan methyl ester. Acid disk gel electrophoresis of the purified chymase disclosed a single stained band with activity being eluted from a replicate sliced gel in the same region. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of purified protein gave a single stained band that did not change in position with reduction and alkylation. Mast cell chymase is thus a cationic protein of 25,000 mol wt composed of a single polypeptide chain. The apparent K(m) of the chymase for BTEE was 1.5 x 10(-3) M and the V(max) was 67.8 mumol/min per mg. The enzyme was inhibited by TPCK and not by TLCK. The chymase complexed with native macromolecular rat mast cell heparin in molar ratios of 12:1 and 16:1, and complete heparin uptake occurred at a 40:1 ratio of chymase to heparin. Chymase activity was partially masked by combination with heparin in the isolated granule or experimental chymase-heparin complex, and soluble purified chymase was inhibited by concentrations of 5-HT comparable to those present in mast cells. It is therefore possible that the active site of chymase in the mast cell granule is largely masked by the combined effects of macromolecular heparin and 5-HT.

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In casein-containing agarose gels, pepsin and chymosin form radial diffusion zones; the diameters of these zones show rectilinear correlations with the logarithm of the enzyme concentration at constant time. The sensitivity for both enzymes is below 1 microgram. Addition of the inhibitor pepstatin A to these enzymes causes a reduction of the diameters of the diffusion zones, with large differences for both the enzymes. With this procedure, the pepsin/chymosin ratio in rennet preparations was assayed with an accuracy of +/- 5%. Identification of the inhibitors allows the determination of amounts in the namomole range. This method is a simple technique for the evaluation of proteinases and their inhibitors in screening systems.

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The effects of various additives on the reaction of rennin with kappa-casein were investigated by using carboxymethylcellulose. Both urea and sodium 1-anilino-8-naphthalenesulfonate effectively inhibited rennin action at concentrations larger than 2 M and 2 mM, respectively. These reagents, however, activated the enzyme action at the lower concentrations. Both alpha S-and beta-caseins had some ranges of concentrations in which the rennin reaction was activated. Calcium chloride had an inhibitory effect on the rennin action. Neither mercaptoethanol nor KCl had any appreciable effect on the enzymatic hydrolysis of kappa-casein. These results are analyzed in terms of the association and dissociation of kappa-casein due to the presence of these additives in the reaction solutions.

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Peptide I [H-Phe-Gly-His-Phe(NO2)-Phe-Ala-Phe-OMe] hydrolyzed by chymosin with kcat=.3+/-.3 s-1 and KM=7+/-3 mM (pH 4.7) inhibited competitively peptide II [H-Leu-Ser-Phe(NO2)-Nle-Ala-Leu-OMe] hydrolysis by chymosin with KI=.23 +/- .12 mM at pH 4.7. In reference conditions (.4 mM peptide, .01 M acetate buffer pH 4.7), the specific activities of porcine pepsin and chymosin on peptide I were 470 +/- 70 nM S-1 and .8 nM S-1 per mg of enzyme. This difference in specific activity for peptide I allowed development of a chymosin-independent pepsin assay for mixtures of these enzymes. In addition, peptide II with a specific activity of 2400 +/- 300 nM S-1 and 154 +/- 20 nM S-1 per mg of porcine pepsin and chymosin provides an alternative to measurement of milk clotting for measurement of chymosin- and pepsin-like activities in commercial rennets. Hydrolysis products of peptide II by chymosin exhibited one ionized group of apparent pK of 3.5 +/- .2 and a molar absorption coefficient change of 1000 +/- 100 at pH 4.7 and at 310 nm. From measurements of the kinetic constants, kcat and KM, from pH 2.5 to 7 with peptide II, chymosin activity depends on the protonation of one group of apparent pK 5.3 +/- .2 in the free enzyme. Rennet powder proved to be fairly stable after a 17-month storage at 4 C. Within the same period, a crystalline chymosin solution kept at --18 C lost 30 to 50% of its activity.

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1. The activity of chicken pepsin was partially inhibited by dimethyl-(2-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzyl)sulphonium bromide, but was unaffected by p-bromophenacyl bromide. 2. In the presence of Cu2+, diazoacetylnorleucine methyl ester completely inactivated chicken pepsin with the incorporation of 1 mol/mol. The mechanism of the reaction was similar to that with pig pepsin. 3. Chicken pepsin was completely inactivated by 2-diazo-4-bromoacetophenone in the presence of Cu2+. 4. Chicken pepsin was almost completely inactivated by 1,2-epoxy-3-(p-nitrophenoxy)propane at 25 degrees C, 3-4mol of inhibitor/mol being incorporated. The reaction at 10 degrees C was investigated briefly. 5. Calf chymosin was inactivated by 1,2-epoxy-3-(p-nitrophenoxy)propane at 10 degrees C, the incorporation of 1 mol/mol being required for complete inhibition. 6. The characteristics of the reactions of chicken pepsin with the above compounds were compared with those of other acid proteinases.

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