Contribution of volatiles to the antifungal effect of Lactobacillus paracasei in defined medium and yogurt.

Lactic acid bacteria with antifungal properties can be used to control spoilage of food and feed. Previously, most of the identified metabolites have been isolated from cell-free fermentate of lactic acid bacteria with methods suboptimal for detecting possible contribution from volatiles to the antifungal activity. The role of volatile compounds in the antifungal activity of Lactobacillus paracasei DGCC 2132 in a chemically defined interaction medium (CDIM) and yogurt was therefore investigated with a sampling technique minimizing volatile loss. Diacetyl was identified as the major volatile produced by L. paracasei DGCC 2132 in CDIM. When the strain was added to a yogurt medium diacetyl as well as other volatiles also increased but the metabolome was more complex. Removal of L. paracasei DGCC 2132 cells from CDIM fermentate resulted in loss of both volatiles, including diacetyl, and the antifungal activity towards two strains of Penicillium spp. When adding diacetyl to CDIM or yogurt without L. paracasei DGCC 2132, marked inhibition was observed. Besides diacetyl, the antifungal properties of acetoin were examined, but no antifungal activity was observed. Overall, the results demonstrate the contribution of diacetyl in the antifungal effect of L. paracasei DGCC 2132 and indicate that the importance of volatiles may have been previously underestimated.

A refined kinetic analysis of plasminogen activation by recombinant bovine tissue-type plasminogen activator indicates two interconvertible activator forms.

Bovine tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) was heterologously expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris and characterized structurally and kinetically. The bovine single-chain tPA-mediated activation of bovine plasminogen was studied in the presence and absence of fibrinogen fragments. We have proposed a refined new method of kinetic analysis which allows examination of both stationary and prestationary phases of this process. The investigation revealed the presence of two interconvertible forms of the recombinant bovine tPA being in equilibrium at a 1 to 50 ratio. Only the minor form was able to bind and activate plasminogen. Saturation of the whole pool of tPA required high plasminogen concentration (Km >/= 5 microM) in order to reverse the equilibrium between the two forms. Fibrinogen fragments activated the single-chain tPA due to preferential binding and stabilization of the minor "active" form of the enzyme until all the molecules of tPA were converted. The same mechanism could be applied to human tPA as well. The Km values, obtained for recombinant bovine and human tPA in the presence of fibrinogen fragments, were found to be similar (Km = 0.1 microM) while kcat of human tPA was 5-10 times higher.

Inhibitory activity against plasmin, trypsin, and elastase in rennet whey and in cheese fortified with whey protein.

The inhibitory activity against trypsin, elastase, and plasmin was determined in samples of Danbo 45+ that were manufactured from milk pasteurized at 72, 80, and 90 degrees C for 15, 30 and 60 s; the corresponding rennet wheys; and Havarti 45+ manufactured from milk concentrated 1.8-fold, 2.7-fold, and 4.6-fold by ultrafiltration. A sensitive colorimetric assay demonstrated that the incorporation of thermally denatured whey proteins into the cheese curd by pasteurization resulted in a decreased proteinase inhibitory activity against trypsin and elastase in Danbo 45+ and against trypsin, elastase, and plasmin in the corresponding rennet wheys. However, incorporation of native whey proteins into Havarti 45+ by ultrafiltration of the cheese milk resulted in an increased inhibitory activity against trypsin and elastase in the cheeses. Cheese manufactured from milk concentrated 1.8-fold, 2.7-fold, or 4.6-fold displayed trypsin inhibitory activity that was 1.8, 2.9, and 5.1 times, respectively, that of the reference cheese. Similarly, the elastase inhibitory activity in the cheeses increased 2.2, 3.2 and 7.8 times. The increased inhibitory activity in cheese fortified with native whey protein likely contributes to the decreased proteolysis and altered ripening characteristics of the resulting cheeses, and further, the method can be adapted to detection of other inhibitors if sufficiently sensitive substrates are available.

Bovine milk procathepsin D and cathepsin D: coagulation and milk protein degradation.

Cathepsin D is an indigenous aspartic proteinase in bovine milk. By competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay the amount of immunoreactive cathepsin D and procathepsin D in bovine skim milk was estimated to be 0.4 microgram/ml. Immunoreactive cathepsin D purified from whey consisted of a small fraction of mature cathepsin D, but the major form was the proenzyme procathepsin D. A preparation of bovine milk procathepsin D was, like mature cathepsin D, able to degrade purified alpha s1-, alpha s2-, beta- and kappa-casein and alpha-lactalbumin, while beta-lactoglobulin was resistant to cleavage. The cleavage sites in these proteins were determined and compared with those of chymosin. Cathepsin D was capable of generating the alpha s1-I, beta-I, beta-II and beta-III fragments originally described from the action of chymosin on the respective caseins, and these fragments were subjected to further proteolysis. Cathepsin D was also able to liberate the caseinomacropeptide from purified kappa-casein, and to coagulate bovine skim milk. This demonstrated that milk contains an indigenous coagulation enzyme present mainly in the whey fraction.