Current evidence indicates that, of the thirteen known lysosomal peptide hydrolases, only seven, cathepsins A, B, C, D, H, L, and lysosomal carboxypeptidase B are located inside skeletal muscle cells. Only one of the reported neutral and alkaline proteases is located inside skeletal muscle cells', this neutral protease is the Ca2+‐dependent proteinase, CAF. With the possible exception of cathepsin N, which can degrade collagen, it seems probable that any protease that contributes to postmortem tenderization needs to be located inside muscle cells. Because very little degradation of myosin or actin occurs in postmortem muscle, most of the small amount of proteolytic degradation of the myofibrillar proteins that occurs during postmortem storage must be due to CAF, which is unique in being unable to degrade myosin and actin. It is not certain that postmortem proteolysis by CAF causes increased tenderness; some recently discovered actin‐fragmenting proteins could be involved.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

The aims of this study were to investigate the diversity of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from traditional Mongolian dairy products, and to estimate the probiotic potential of the isolated strains. We collected 66 samples of the traditional Mongolian dairy products tarag (n = 45), airag (n = 7), aaruul (n = 8), byasulag (n = 1) and eezgii (n = 5), from which 543 LAB strains were isolated and identified based on 16S ribosomal DNA sequence. The predominant species of those products were Lactobacillus (L.) delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus, L. helveticus, L. fermentum, L. delbrueckii ssp. lactis and Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis. However, we could not detect any LAB strains from eezgii. All LAB isolates were screened for tolerance to low pH and to bile acid, gas production from glucose, and adherence to Caco-2 cells. In vitro, we found 10 strains possess probiotic properties, and almost identified them as L. plantarum or L. paracasei subspecies, based on 16S ribosomal DNA and carbohydrate fermentation pattern. These strains were differentiated from each other individually by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis. Additionally, it was notable that 6/10 strains were isolated from camel milk tarag from the Dornogovi province.

In the search for novel peptides that inhibit the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE), porcine skeletal troponin was hydrolyzed with pepsin, and the products were subjected to various types of chromatography to isolate active peptides. Glu-Lys-Glu-Arg-Glu-Arg-Gln (EKERERQ) and Lys-Arg-Gln-Lys-Tyr-Asp-Ile (KRQKYDI) were identified as active peptides, and their 50% inhibitory concentrations were found to be 552.5 and 26.2 microM, respectively. These are novel ACE inhibitory peptides, and the activity of KRQKYDI was the strongest among previously reported troponin-originated peptides. KRQKYDI was slowly hydrolyzed by treatment with ACE, and kinetic studies indicated that this peptide was a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme. When KRQKYDI was administered orally to spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) at a dose of 10 mg/kg, a temporary antihypertensive activity was observed at 3 and 6 h after administration.