A fast and novel approach to evaluate technical enzyme preparations for an efficient protein hydrolysis

The objective of this study was to establish a fast approach (< 1 h) for the evaluation of technical enzyme preparations (TEPs). An automated photometric analyzer (Gallery TM Plus) was equipped with 32 synthetic and natural substrates to measure aminopeptidase, carboxypeptidase, dipeptidyl peptidase and endopeptidase activities distinguishably and the proteolytic activity towards lupine protein of TEPs. The established so-called “activity fingerprints” (AFPs) delivered detailed information about the substrate spectra and peptidase side activities, noticing furthermore batch variations of Flavourzyme1000L. Based on their AFPs, particular TEPs were selected for lupine protein hydrolysis and the hydrolysates were analyzed regarding the degree of hydrolysis and the free amino acids. It was demonstrated that the information of the AFPs were applicable to predict important properties of the resulting hydrolysates. Consequently, the hydrolysis efficiency was improved (increase of 47%). The system introduced enables the targeted selection of TEPs for enzymatic protein hydrolysis, resulting in specific food protein hydrolysates.