Chymosin casein micelle coagulation

The Daily Industiy. The first step in cheese manufacture is the coagulation of milk. Coagulation can be divided into two distinct phases, enzymatic and the non-enzymatic. In the primary enzymatic phase a proteol ic enzyme such as chymosin (rennet), or less effectively, pepsin, carries out an extremely specific and limited proteolysis, cleaving a phenylalanine-methionine bond of /c-casein, making the casein micelle metastabie. In the second, non-enzymatic phase, the... 

Figure 10.3 Schematic representation of the rennet coagulation of milk, (a) Casein micelles with intact K-casein layer being attacked by chymosin (Q (b) micelles partially denuded of K-casein (c) extensively denuded micelles in the process of aggregation (d) release of macropeptides ( ) and changes in relative viscosity (0) during the course of rennet coagulation.

Most current models put K-casein on the outer casein micelle surface (Heth and Swaisgood 1982 McMahon and Brown 1984A Shahani 1974). This allows the possibility that heat-induced coagulation of milk is the result of serum proteins interacting with K-casein on the micelle surface and with each other to interconnect micelles. The observation that chymosin cannot release macropeptides from K-casein in heated milk (Morrissey 1969 Shalabi and Wheelock 1976,1977) suggests that... 

Reddy, D., Payens, T. A. and Brown, R. J. 1986. Effect of pepstatin on the chymosin-triggered coagulation of casein micelles. J. Dairy Sci. 69 (Suppl. 1), 72. 

Casein micelles are remarkably stable structures. Milk may be boiled, sometimes for several hours, without coagulating the micelles. Also, the addition of CaCU to milk does not precipitate the micelles up to concentrations greatly in excess of that required to precipitate purified whole casein. On the other hand, micelles rapidly flocculate after treatment with chymosin, at or above room temperature, and casein... 

The stomach environment is acidic as a result of HC1 secretion by the parietal cells. The acidic pH serves to denature many proteins, thus making them susceptible to proteolysis. The chief cells of the stomach produce pepsinogen, which is activated to pepsin by the HC1 (see Table 20.3). The optimum pH of peptic activity is around 2, and pepsin is inactivated at neutrality. Another stomach enzyme is rennin or chymosin, which is present in infants but not in adults. It removes a glycopeptide from milk-K-casein, disrupting the casein micelle and promoting milk protein coagulation and digestion. 

Chymosin is secreted by the abomasum in the form of an intially inactive precursor, prochymosin, which is converted autocatalytically to chymosin (see below, p. 176). Many reviews on the properties of the zymogen and the enzyme have been published. One of the most recent, by Foltmann (J), also contains references to earlier reviews. The action of chymosin on K-casein is primarily responsible for the milk-clotting process. The numerous studies of this reaction have been reviewed recently by Mackinlay and Wake (32). Because of the number of diflFer-ent milk proteins and the complexity of their interactions, especially in the casein micelle, the full details of the coagulation process are not yet understood. 

The K-casein provides a layer of hydrophilic polymer at the surface of the micelle that contributes to stability. Removal of the K-casein by enzymatic hydrolysis with chymosin (rennin) results in the micelles eventually undergoing coagulation. This is the principle of cheese making. 

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