Influence of calpain on lamb myofibrillar proteins degradation during in vitro culture

Abstract

Tenderness is an important indicator of meat quality, degradation plays important role during the maturation, therefore improving meat quality and tenderness. Understanding the process of myofibrillar and which enzymes affect degradation is more needed to prove. In this study we used longest muscle of Bashibai sheep of Xinjiang as the experiment material. The isolated myofibrillar protein and μ-calpains are incubated at 4°C about 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 days using in vitro culture method and analysed by SDS-PAGE, Western blotting. Results showed that μ-calpain can improve the degradation of some myofibrillar proteins. Desmin was degraded by the 3rd, troponin-T was completely degraded by the 7th day.

Keywords

• lamb
• myofibrillar
• protein
• tenderness
• μ
• -calpain