A., Bolivia for providing the coffee samples. The ZHAW Department of Life Sciences and Facility Management is acknowledged for funding this research. “
“Rennet and coagulants are proteolytic enzyme preparations which have been used in selleck products the cheese industry for milk clotting, being this the oldest known application of enzymes. By definition, rennet is an extract of ruminant abomasums. From the name rennet, derived the word rennin for the milk clotting enzyme, which today is called chymosin (EC 3.4.23.4) (Andrén, 2002). Rennet extracted from calf abomasum consists of chymosin, as the major component, and of another proteolytic enzyme, pepsin (EC 3.4.23.1); when rennet is

extracted from adult animals this proportion is inverted, and there is predominance of pepsin (Guinee and Wilkinson, 1992 and Sousa et al., 2001). Due to its specificity towards the bond Phe105–Met106 of κ-casein, chymosin is more adequate to clot milk for cheese making than pepsin, which presents general proteolytic

action (Visser, 1993), risking the yield and flavour of cheese. Milk-clotting enzymes other than rennet are called coagulants and are represented by LY2109761 molecular weight fermentation produced chymosin, which is 100% calf chymosin produced by recombinant DNA technology involving Aspergillus niger, Kluyveromyces lactis or Escherichia coli ( Andrén, 2002); by vegetable enzymes such as the aqueous extract of flowers of Cynara cardunculus the most popular and

successful in Portugal ( Sousa & Malcata, 1998); and by different microbial coagulants specially the ones from Rhizomucor miehei, Rhizomucor pusillus and Cryphonectria parasitica ( Andrén, 2002, Nelson, 1975 and Sardinas, 1968). Approximately a third of the world’s milk production is used for cheese manufacture and the use of cheese for direct consumption and as an ingredient has increased tremendously (Farkye, 2004). For example, there was a 17% worldwide increase in cheese production from 2000 to 2008, and 43% in Brazil (Embrapa, 2010). Prato cheese, a Brazilian semi-hard cow variety, is of Danish origin, similar to Gouda and Danbo, with characteristic taste and texture; it is widely distributed in Brazil and NADPH-cytochrome-c2 reductase is one of the most consumed cheeses in the country (Cichoscki, Valduga, Valduga, Tornadijo, & Fresno, 2002). It is a ripened cheese made by enzymatic curdling with a smooth, thin rind and an elastic, compact consistency and rectangular in shape (Cichoscki et al., 2002 and Gorostiza et al., 2004). It is clear that cheeses have a very important economical role worldwide and also that the production of cheeses obtained through enzymatic coagulation, such as Prato cheese, tends to keep rising, meaning that the demand for coagulants is growing. Another trend in the cheese industry is that calf slaughter has decreased causing lack of calf rennet and a raise in its cost (Andrén, 2002).