An α-glucosidase inhibitor was developed from Aspergillus oryzae N159-1, which was screened from traditional fermented Korean foods. The intracellular concentration of the inhibitor reached its highest level when the fungus was cultured in tryptic soy broth medium at 27℃ for five days. The inhibitor was purified using a series of purification steps involving ultrafiltration, Sephadex G-25 gel permeation chromatography, strong cation exchange solid phase extraction, reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography, and size exclusion chromatography. The final yield of the purification was 1.9%. Results of the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis indicated that the purified α-glucosidase inhibitor was a tri-peptide, Pro-Phe-Pro, with the molecular weight of 360.1 Da. The IC50 value of the peptide against α-glucosidase activity was 3.1 mg/mL. Using Lineweaver-Burk plot analysis, the inhibition pattern indicated that the inhibitor acts as a mixed type inhibitor.

To investigate the synergistic effect(s) of electron-beam (EB) irradiation and leek (Allium tuberosum Rottler) extract on the quality of pork jerky during ambient storage, we irradiated prepared pork jerky samples (control and samples with 0.5% and 1.0% leek extract) with EB technology at doses of 0, 1, 2, and 4 kGy, stored them for 2 months at 25°C, and analyzed them. Water activity was 0.73 to 0.77 in non-irradiated samples, and no significant difference in the water activity was observed between the samples treated with leek and the control. The total aerobic bacterial count was significantly decreased with an increase in the irradiation dose and leek extract addition when compared to that of the control (4.54±0.05 log CFU/g). Further, the Hunter color values (L*, a*, and b*) were found to be significantly decreased following leek extract addition and EB irradiation. However, the color values, especially the a* value of the irradiated samples significantly increased during storage. Notably, increasing the EB irradiation dose enhanced the peroxide value. Sensory evaluation revealed that irradiation decreased flavor and overall acceptability. Our findings suggest the use of EB irradiation in combination with leek extract to improve the microbiological safety of pork jerky. However, in order to meet market requirements, novel methods to enhance the sensory quality of pork jerky are warranted.

: This study was carried out to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of quercetin (Kocetin TM , QR)on antioxidative activity and meat quality of beef cattle (Holstein-Friesian). Beef cattle were divided into 3 groups; dietary supplementation of QR at 21 (n=4) and 42 ppm (n=3), and non-supplemented control (n=4). The QR comprised of 10% of quercetin. After slaughtering the beef cattle, loins were obtained and analyzed. Dietary supplementation of QR at 42 ppm showed significantly higher final pH of loin but did not affect the water holding capacity, drip loss, cooking loss, surface color, total phenolics content, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity. Dietary QR showed no difference in both 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and volatile basic nitrogen values. Textural characteristic results also showed no difference, except for cohesiveness. Cohesiveness was significantly higher in loin from beef cattle treated by dietary QR at 42 ppm when compared to control. Results suggest that dietary QR, which has only 10% of quercetin is not sufficient to have positive biochemical effects on beef meat quality.

This study investigated the combined effect of electron-beam irradiation and addition of leek (Allium tuberosum R.) extract on pork jerky inoculated with selected foodborne pathogens. Prepared pork jerky samples (control and samples with 1.0% leek extract) were inoculated with pathogens and subsequently irradiated at 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 4 kGy doses. In comparison with the control, samples with 1.0% leek extract showed significant reduction in the numbers of Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella Typhimurium. No viable counts were detected for Salmonella Typhimurium in both control and leek-extract samples, and for E. coli and L. monocytogenes in the leek-extract sample exposed to 3 kGy irradiation dose. The D(10) values for E. coli, L. monocytogenes, and Salmonella Typhimurium observed in the irradiated samples with leek extract were 0.39, 0.34, and 0.32 kGy, while the D(10) values in those without leek extract were 0.65, 0.65, and 0.39 kGy, respectively. Therefore, our results clearly showed that irradiation combined with leek extract was effective in reducing pathogens, suggesting that a low dose of irradiation combined with the addition of a natural antimicrobial agent can enhance the microbial safety and shelf-life of pork jerky.

This study describes the characterization of a new angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptide from a Korean traditional rice wine. After purification of the ACE inhibitor peptides with ultrafiltration, Sephadex G-25 column chromatography, and successively C 18 and SCX solid-phase extraction, reverse-phase HPLC, and size exculsion chromatography, two types of the purified ACE inhibitors with IC 50 values of 0.34 mg/ml and 1.23 mg/ml were finally obtained. The two purified ACE inhibitors (F-1 and F-2) were found to have two kinds of novel oligopeptides, showing very little similarity to other ACE inhibitory peptide sequences. The amino acid sequences of the two purified oligopeptides were found to be Gln-Phe-Tyr-Ala-Val (F-1) and Ala-Gly-Pro-Val-Leu-Leu (F-2), and their molecular masses were estimated to be 468.7 Da (F-1) and 357.7 Da (F-2), respectively. They all showed a clear antihypertensive effect on spontaneously hypertensive rats at a dosage of 500 mg/kg.

No abstract

We report morphological and physiological characteristics of newly isolated six kinds of yeasts which are new in Korean mycoflora. The yeasts were isolated from wild flowers in Daejeon city, Korea and identified by molecular analysis of the amplified internal transcribed space rDNA sequence or partial 18S rDNA sequence. Species of isolates were identified as Kuraishia capsulate, Lodderomyces elongisporus, Pseudozyma antarctica, Starmerella bombicola.

Kluyveromyces fragilis KCTC 7260 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae KCTC 7904, which both grew well in pear marc extract, were selected and their growth profiles and physiological functionalities were determined. Both of the selected yeasts established maximal growth by 20 hr of cultivation at 30℃ in pear marc extract. The cell-free extracts showed high antihypertensive angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory activity of 68.9% and 52.1%, respectively. The extracts also displayed 9.2 U/mL and 12.0 U/mL of protease activity, respectively.