• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.739-743
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• 2006

Postmortem proteolysis of breast (BM) and leg (LM) muscles from Taiwan colored chickens (TCC) and silkie bantams (SB) at $5^{\circ}C$ were compared. Myofibrils were prepared from BM and LM samples that were randomly taken from the carcasses of SB and TCC after 0, 1, 3, 7 and 14 days of storage at $5^{\circ}C$. pH of samples was determined, and degradation of myofibrillar proteins was analyzed by the SDS-PAGE and western blots. The results showed that pH was lower in BM than in LM samples from both avian strains. Appearance of 30 kDa components and disappearance of titin and nebulin were more rapidly as seen on SDS-PAGE in BM than in LM samples. Western blots labeled with a monoclonal antibody to desmin also demonstrated that desmin degraded more quickly in BM samples. Our data might suggest that postmortem proteolysis occurred more rapidly in BM than in LM from both TCC and SB.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.721-724
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• 2002

Postmortem Proteolysis of breast (BM) and leg (LM) muscles in Chiayi native chickens at $5^{\circ}C$ were compared. Myofibrils were purified from BM and LM samples that were randomly taken from carcasses after 0, 1, 3, 7 and 14 days of storage at $5^{\circ}C$. Fragmentation of myofibrils were determined, and degradation of myofibrillar proteins were analyzed by the SDS-PAGE and western blots. The results showed that myofibril fragmentation index (MFI) was significantly (p<0.05) higher in BM than in LM samples. Disappearance of titin and nebulin and appearance of the 30 kDa component were more rapidly as seen on SDS-PAGE in BM than in LM samples. Western blots labeled with a monoclonal antibody to desmin also demonstrated that desmin degraded more quickly in BM samples. Our data suggested that postmortem proteolysis occurred more rapidly in breast muscles in Chiayi native chickens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.1296-1302
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• 2004

This study was conducted to evaluate the possible application of 2 D-SDS-PAGE (2 DE)-based proteome analysis techniques to the assessment of extreme proteolysis in postmortem skeletal muscle. Eight Hanwoo longissimus muscles were incubated immediately after slaughter for 24 h at 5$^{\circ}C$, 15$^{\circ}C$ or 36$^{\circ}C$. Warner Bratzler (WB)-shear force and ultrastructural configuration were determined at 24 h, and rate of proteolysis to 24 h was determined by 1 D-SDS-PAGE (1 DE) and 2 DE. In addition, tentative protein identification was performed from peptide mass fingerprints of MALDI-ToF analysis of major protein groups on 2 DE profiles. The result showed that although ultrastructural configuration was similar between the 5$^{\circ}C$ and 36$^{\circ}C$ treatments, meat at 5$^{\circ}C$ had higher WBshear force (approximately 5 kg greater). A higher rate of protein degradation at 36$^{\circ}C$ was observed based on Troponin-T degradation, 1 DE, and 2 DE analysis. This indicates that proteolysis during the early postmortem period was a significant determinant of shear force at 24 h. Little difference in proteolysis between 5$^{\circ}C$ and 15$^{\circ}C$ treatments was found based on classic 1 DE profile assessment. Meanwhile, considerable differences in the 2 DE profiles between the two treatments were revealed, with substantially higher rate of proteolysis at 15$^{\circ}C$ compared to 5$^{\circ}C$. Nuclease treatment improved 2 DE profile resolution. 400 ${\mu}$g and 600 ${\mu}$g of sample loading appeared to be appropriate for 24 cm pH 3-10 and pH 5-7 IPG strips, respectively. Protein detection and quantification of the 5$^{\circ}C$, 15$^{\circ}C$ and 36$^{\circ}C$ 2 DE profiles revealed 78, 163 and 232 protein spots respectively that were differentially modified in terms of their electrophoretic properties between approximately pI 5.3-7.7 with the molecular weight range of approximately 71-12 kDa. The current results demonstrated that 2 DE was a superior tool to 1 DE for characterising proteolysis in postmortem skeletal muscle.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.723-743
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• 2022

Beef muscles from mature cows and bulls, especially those originating from the extremities of the carcass, are considered as underutilized due to unsatisfactory palatability. However, beef from culled animals comprises a substantial proportion of the total slaughter in the US and globally. Modern consumers typically favor cuts suitable for fast, dry-heat cookery, thereby creating challenges for the industry to market inherently tough muscles. In general, cull cow beef would be categorized as having a lower extent of postmortem proteolysis compared to youthful carcasses, coupled with a high amount of background toughness. The extent of cross-linking and resulting insolubility of intramuscular connective tissues typically serves as the limiting factor for tenderness development of mature beef. Thus, numerous post-harvest strategies have been developed to improve the quality and palatability attributes, often aimed at overcoming deficiencies in tenderness through enhancing the degradation of myofibrillar and stromal proteins or physically disrupting the tissue structure. The aim of this review is to highlight existing and recent innovations in the field that have been demonstrated as effective to enhance the tenderness and palatability traits of mature beef during the chilling and postmortem aging processes, as well as the use of physical interventions and enhancement.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.1151-1168
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• 2023

Tenderness and taste characteristics of meat are the key determinants of the meat choices of consumers. This review summarizes the contemporary research on the molecular mechanisms by which postmortem aging of meat improves the tenderness and taste characteristics. The fundamental mechanism by which postmortem aging improves the tenderness of meat involves the operation of the calpain system due to apoptosis, resulting in proteolytic enzyme-induced degradation of cytoskeletal myofibrillar proteins. The improvement of taste characteristics by postmortem aging is mainly explained by the increase in the content of taste-related peptides, free amino acids, and nucleotides produced by increased hydrolysis activity. This review improves our understanding of the published research on tenderness and taste characteristics of meat and provides insights to improve these attributes of meat through postmortem aging.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.159-169
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• 2016

Animal muscles are stored for specific period (aging) at refrigerated temperatures, during and after which the living muscles start to convert into meat and thus, attain certain superior properties in the final product. Proteolysis, lipolysis, and oxidation are the major biochemical processes involved during the postmortem aging of meat that affect the tenderness, juiciness, and flavor, as well as sometimes may introduce certain undesirable traits. This review analyzes the role of pre- and post-mortem factors that are important for aging and their effect on the chemical and physical changes in the “dry- and wet-aged meat.” Thus, if the meat processing manufacturers optimize the effects of aging for specific muscles, the palatability, color, and the shelf life of the aged meat products could be significantly enhanced.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.120-128
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• 1976

Two experiments were conducted to study the nature of protein degradation in fish muscle postmortem, first one with English sole (Paraphyrus vetulus) followed by another with rockfish (Sebastodes spp.). In the first one, proteolysis was measured by the increase of amino-N in gutted fish during storage in ice and in the homogenates prepared from fish of different ice storage during $20^{\circ}C-incubation$. In order to test the possible involvement of fish muscle a cathepsin, a portion of each homogenate sample was exposed to 0.5 Mrad of gamma radiation to destroy viable microorganisms prior to the incubation. Proteolysis was not detected until viable count reached a level above $10^7$ cells per gm fish flesh, corresponding to 31 days of ice storage. Even if fish flesh were mechanically disrupted by means of homogenization and subsequently incubated at $20^{\circ}C$, proteloysis attributable to muscle cathepsin was not detected. In the second with rockfish muscle aseptically prepared from freshly killed fish, the samples were inoculated with a proteolytic strain of fish spoilage Pseudomonad or irradiated at 0, 0.5 and 3.0 Mrad. The four samle groups were stored at $0-2^{\circ}C$ to compare the spoilage pattern of sterile and non-sterile muscle. In sterile muscle both total-N (extracted in 0.5M KCl) and amino-N $(soluble\;in\;70\%\;ethanol)$ declined slightly while the inoculated muscle showing increase in parallel with the increase of number of inoculated bacterium. The results indicate that proteolysis is a part of normal fish spoilage and the onset of proteolysis is delayed until viable count reaches its maximum level. Contribution of fish muscle cathepsin to protein degradation in white flesh fish muscle post-mortem is nil.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.921-932
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• 2006

Management to improve beef tenderness is always been a historical idea, but during the recent past it has become an issue of prime importance to the meat scientists and the industries as well. Variation in tenderness is the prime explanation for consumer’s dissatisfaction for the concern meat. It has been well documented that both postmortem proteolysis and sarcomere length have significant effect on meat tenderness and its consistency. Electrical stimulation and tenderstretch techniques have been used by a number of countries to underpin carcass quality assurance schemes focused on eating quality. The mechanism(s) by which the postmortem interventions improve tenderness (or prevent toughness) has not been fully elucidated. However, it is evident that electrical stimulation accelerates the development of rigor mortis so that prevention of cold shortening is possible and ageing commences at higher temperatures. On the other hand, tendersretch appears to prevent meat toughness via placing tension of the myofibrils and connective matrix during rigor development. Previous findings indicated that electrical stimulation and tenderstretch improved beef tenderness even for fattened cattle under moderate chilling conditions. Recent studies demonstrate beef tenderness to be one of the most important factors determining satisfaction levels of Korean beef consumers. There are number of studies which reported that electrical stimulation and tenderstretch techniques improved Hanwoo tenderness and color. It is believed that the techniques are mostly useful wherein controls of carcass size, fatness and/or chilling regimes are not easy such as Korean beef industry. However, Korean beef industry is one such area where postmortem intervention techniques have not been adopted so far. Taking into consideration of the Korean beef industry, wherein carcass size and fatness varies the post-slaughter intervention technique could be the most feasible measurement to ensure eating quality. The manuscript attempts to highlight the current knowledge aiming primarily towards the assurance of beef tenderness.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.175-179
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• 2015

Proteases play important roles in parasite development and host parasite interactions. The protease of Kudoa spp. has been recognized as a key factor of severe proteolysis of fish muscle post-mortem; however, there is little information available regarding the protease of Kudoa (K.) septempunctata, which was recently identified as a cause of food poisoning in humans. The present study was conducted to isolate and characterize proteases to elucidate the type of protease contained in the parasite and determine the optimal pH for protease activity. We confirmed the cysteine protease and metalloprotease produced by K. septempunctata. While the cysteine protease showed optimal activity at pH 5 that decreased rapidly with increasing pH, the optimal activity of metalloprotease was pH 7, and it remained stable from pH 6 to pH 8. These results indicate that the pH of cysteine protease is not proper for fish muscle postmortem, and that metalloprotease can act in human intestines. Overall, the present study provides important information that improves our understanding of the role of protease physiology and the subsequent food poisoning caused by K. septempunctata.