Elucidation of potential relationship between endogenous proteases and key flavor substances in dry-cured pork coppa

Dry-cured meat products are considerably popular around the world due to unique flavor.Proteolysis is one of the enzymatic reactions from which flavor substances are derived,which is affected by endogenous proteases.The purpose aimed to reveal the potential relationship between endogenous proteases and key flavor substances in dry-cured pork coppa in this paper.The dynamic changes of endogenous proteases activity,free amino acids,and volatiles during dry-cured pork coppa processing were characterized.The results showed that 5 kinds of free amino acids,Glu,Lys,Val,Ala,and Leu,were identified as significant contributors to taste.Meanwhile,key volatiles,such as hexanal,nonanal,octanal,benzaldehyde,3-methyl butanoic acid,2-methyl propanoic acid,and ethyl octanoate,greatly contributed to the flavor characteristics of dry-cured pork coppa.Further partial correlation analysis was performed to better elucidate the relationship among parameters.The results revealed that close relationship between endogenous proteases and key substances.RAP not only significantly affected the accumulation of key active-amino acids,but also affected the accumulation of ethyl octanoate,2,3-pentanedione,and 2,3-octanedione by regulating the accumulation of octanoic acid and Leu.In addition,cathepsin B and D,DPP II,DPP IV and RAP notably affected accumulation of hexanal.

Aminopeptidase Play a Critical Role in the Accumulation of Free Amino Acids in Abalone(Haliotis discus hannai)During Cold Storage

Abalones reveal unique taste after processing,mainly because of their abundant free amino acids(FAAs)and nucleotides.FAAs are nutrition components that can contribute to the unique taste.However,which factor(s)is responsible for the accumulation of FAAs still need further studies.To analyze the production of FAAs,we studied the variation of FAAs during 7 days of storage at 4℃.The content of taste-active amino acids,including Asp,Glu,Ser,and Gly increased by 1.7-fold,2.0-fold,3.0-fold,and 8.4-fold,respectively.The relative activity of cathepsin L and aminopeptidase(AP)increased significantly during the cold storage period.To identify AP in abalone and its function in mediating the production of FAAs,an aminopeptidase with wide substrate specificity was then extracted and purified from abalone muscle to homogeneity.Purified AP with a molecular mass of 100 kDa exhibited its maximum activity at 30℃,pH 7.5,and was further confirmed by LC-MS.Bestatin specifically inhibited the activity of AP,and metalloproteinase inhibitors EDTA,EGTA and 1,10-phenanthroline also suppressed its activity to different degrees.Based on its highest activity to substrate Leu-MCA and its peptide sequences,the purified enzyme was identified as leucine aminopeptidase(LAP).Our present study indicated the essential role of AP for FAAs accumulation during cold storage of abalone.

Arabidopsis SUMO protease ASP1 positively regulates flowering time partially through regulating FLC stability

The initiation of flowering is tightly regulated by the endogenous and environment signals, which is crucial for the reproductive success of flowering plants. It is well known that autonomous and vernalization pathways repress transcription of FLOWERING LOCUS C（FLC）, a focal floral repressor, but how its protein stability is regulated remains largely unknown. Here, we found that mutations in a novel Arabidopsis SUMO protease 1（ASP1） resulted in a strong late-flowering phenotype under long-days, but to a lesser extent under short-days. ASP1 localizes in the nucleus and exhibited a SUMO protease activity in vitro and in vivo. The conserved Cys-577 in ASP1 is critical for its enzymatic activity, as well as its physiological function in the regulation of flowering time. Genetic and gene expression analyses demonstrated that ASP1 promotes transcription of positive regulators of flowering, such as FT,SOC1 and FD, and may function in both CO-dependent photoperiod pathway and FLC-dependent pathways.Although the transcription level of FLC was not affected in the loss-of-function asp1 mutant, the protein stability of FLC was increased in the asp1 mutant. Taken together, this study identified a novel bona fide SUMO protease, ASP1,which positively regulates transition to flowering at least partly by repressing FLC protein stability.