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Progress in the field of aspartic proteinases in cheese manufacturing: structures, functions, catalytic mechanism, inhibition, and engineering

  • Review Paper
  • Published:
Dairy Science & Technology

Abstract

Aspartic proteinases are an important class of proteinases which are widely used as milk-coagulating agents in industrial cheese production. They are available from a wide range of sources including mammals, plants, and microorganisms. Various attempts have been made in order to get insights into enzyme structure/function relationships for designing improved biocatalysts. This review provides an overview of historical background and recent achievements on the classification and structural characteristics of such enzymes as related to their functional properties, mechanism of catalysis, pH, and temperature dependence, substrate specificities, mechanism of inhibition, enzyme engineering, and technological applications with the focus on cheese manufacturing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Engineering, Ege University, 35100, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey

    Sirma Yegin

  2. DSM Biotechnology Center, DSM Food Specialties, Delft, The Netherlands

    Peter Dekker

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  1. Sirma Yegin
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  2. Peter Dekker
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Correspondence to Sirma Yegin.

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Yegin, S., Dekker, P. Progress in the field of aspartic proteinases in cheese manufacturing: structures, functions, catalytic mechanism, inhibition, and engineering. Dairy Sci. & Technol. 93, 565–594 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13594-013-0137-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13594-013-0137-2

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