• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.403-408
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• 2004

We studied active substances like crude cell wall components, crude protein, composing amino acids and free amino acids including orinithine cycle-related amino acids such as asparagine, ornithine and citrullin in fully ripe fruits of Korean native squash, Cucurbita moschata Poir. Crude protein content of 'Jeju 2' was the highest with $2,830\;{\mu}g/g$, while 'Sangju' was the lowest with $1,319\;{\mu}g/g$. Regarding the contents of crude cell wall components, fruit 'Kanghaw' was the highest with 2,961 mg% while 'Namhea' was the lowest with 1,582 mg%. Pectin contents of crude cell wall components were the highest in 'Kanghaw' (2,198 mg%) followed by 'Jeju 2' (2,178 mg%) and 'Jeju l' (1,461 mg%). The main contents of amino acids in squash were glutamic acid, aspartic acid, lysine, leucine and valine, which comprised to be more than 50% of total amino acid contents. Especially, in 'Jeju 2' aspartic acid and threonine were not detected. In fully ripe fruits, a total of 34 kinds of free amino acids were detected including 8 kinds of essential amino acids (histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, methionine, threonine and valine). More than 50% of the total free amino acids were aspartic acid and asparagine, and also all varieties were detected in ornithine, citrullin, and arginine, which are related to Ornithine cycle. There was a big difference in the contents of arginine in all varieties whereas the contents of ornithine and citrullin were very similar. 'Teaan' 29.34% was 7 times higher than 'Namhea' 4.30% in regards to arginine contents.