Chemical Composition of Glycoprotein from Urechis unicinctus

개불(Urechis unicinctus) 당단백질의 성분조성과 특성

To confirm the food quality of Urechis unicinctus which have been favored as a special raw seafood in southern area in Korea, the chemical composition of Urechis unicinctus and those glycoprotein were studied. Freeze dried Urechis unicinctus was composed of more than 70% of crude protein and 15% of total carbohydrate. The amino acids such as glycine(18.69%), glutamic acid(12.50%) and aspartic acid(9.37%) were noted as major components of total amino acids. The predominant free amino acids were alanine(32.98%), glycine(27.50%), asparagine(19.65%) and taurine(8.29%), and the sum of them were more than 88% to total free amino acids, so they may cause unique taste of Urechis unicinctus with sweetness. As the basis of sugar composition analysis, 56.35% of glucose and 30.49% of N acetylglucosamine were contained respectively, and they might also play an important role in a sweet taste. The leading carbohydrate moiety of glycoprotein from Urechis unicinctus was identified as glucose and N acetylglucosamine similarly to raw muscle, and they occupied more than 50% of total sugar content. Fucose(18.32%) and D glucuronic acid(12.31%) also detected in higher levels com pared to raw muscle. The total amino acid profile of glycoprotein showed a similar trend to raw muscle protein but glycine was detected a significantly lower than that in raw muscle. The glycoprotein from Urechis unicinctus was composed of 4 kinds of subunits, i.e. 25kDa, 20kDa, 18kDa and 12.5kDa of molecular weights through the SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. On the basis of the IR spectrum of absorptions appeared in 1,240cm-1 and 850cm-1, the glycoprotein had sulfate groups.