Small peptides hydrolysis in dry-cured meats

Large amounts of different peptides are naturally generated in dry-cured meats as a consequence of the intense proteolysis mechanisms which take place during their processing. In fact, meat proteins are extensively hydrolysed by muscle endo-peptidases (mainly calpains and cathepsins) followed by exo-peptidases (mainly, tri- and di-peptidyl peptidases, dipeptidases, aminopeptidases and carboxypeptidases). The result is a large amount of released free amino acids and a pool of numerous peptides with different sequences and lengths, some of them with interesting sequences for bioactivity. This manuscript is presenting the proteomic identification of small peptides resulting from the hydrolysis of four target proteins (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, beta-enolase, myozenin-1 and troponin T) and discusses the enzymatic routes for their generation during the dry-curing process. The results indicate that the hydrolysis of peptides follows similar exo-peptidase mechanisms. In the case of dry-fermented sausages, most of the observed hydrolysis is the result of the combined action of muscle and microbial exo-peptidases except for the hydrolysis of di- and tri-peptides, mostly due to microbial di- and tri-peptidases, and the release of amino acids at the C-terminal that appears to be mostly due to muscle carboxypeptidases.