Variants of chymosin with improved milk-clotting properties.

A variant polypeptide having chymosin activity, wherein the variant has an amino acid sequence which, when aligned with the chymosin comprising the sequence set out in SEQ ID NO: 2, comprises at least one substitution of an amino acid residue corresponding to any of amino acids 2, 22, 40, 48, 50, 51, 53, 61, 62, 76, 88, 98, 99, 109, 112, 117, 125, 126, 135, 144, 160, 161, 163, 187, 189, 194, 200, 201, 202, 203, 221, 223, 240, 242, 244, 254, 267, 271, 273, 278, 280, 284, 289, 292, 294 or 295 said positions being defined with reference to SEQ ID NO: 2 and wherein the variant has one or more altered properties as compared with a reference polypeptide having chymosin activity. Such a variant polypeptide may be used in the preparation of a cheese.

A liquid or dried granulated milk clotting aspartic protease enzyme composition comprising added polypeptides/proteins. The polypeptides/proteins may be animal-derived (e.g. whey, lactalbumin, transferrin, casein, ovalbumin, gelatin, blood), vegetable-derived (soy, pea, corn, potato, hemp, rice, wheat, peanut, sun flower, rape seed) or algae proteins (e.g. spirulina). Addition of protein in several instances increases activity of the enzyme and simultaneously improves physical stability.

The invention relates to a method for coating surfaces by enzymatic reaction of a biopolymer, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a) applying an enzyme to the surface of a substrate, and b) contacting the enzyme with the biopolymer to be deposited, wherein the enzyme cleaves the biopolymer, wherein the cleavage gives rise to at least two cleavage products of the biopolymer having different solubility in a solvent, and at least one cleavage product of the biopolymer having relatively low solubility is deposited on the surface of the substrate, and to a coated article obtainable by the method and to a coating composition comprising a biopolymer and at least one component selected from the group comprising binders, fillers, pigments and/or additives, and optionally a solvent.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of a fermented milk product, preferably yogurt, comprising fermenting milk with lactic acid bacteria and contacting the milk with a polypeptide having chymosin activity having a C/P ratio higher than the C/P ratio of bovine chymosin.

Variants of chymosin with improved milk-clotting properties.

The transgenic plants engineered to express animal-derived proteins, such as myoglobin, casein, chymosin, hemoglobin and actin and other animal-derived proteins, and the nucleic acids encoding the same are described herein. Methods of making and identifying the transgenic plants, processing the seeds from the transgenic plants that contain the expressed animal-derived proteins, isolating and purifying the expressed proteins, and utilizing the expressed proteins in food are provided. Food and food ingredients that include myoglobin, casein, chymosin, hemoglobin and actin are also disclosed herein. Genes encoding myoglobin, casein, hemoglobin and actin forms that have been modified to improve performance as components of food are described.

The present invention generally relates to aspartic proteases (EC 3.4.23) for producing cheese.

The present invention provides a chimeric polynucleotide comprising: a first nucleic acid sequence encoding a first polypeptide selected from: alpha S1 casein, alpha S2 casein, and beta casein, a whey polypeptide, or a functional analog thereof, a second nucleic acid sequence encoding a cleavage site of a proteolytic enzyme; and, a third nucleic acid sequence encoding a kappa casein macropeptide, Further provided are a chimeric polypeptide, as well as compositions comprising same, and methods of using same, such as for producing an edible composition comprising casein and/or whey polypeptide aggregates, such as a dairy substituent curd.

The present invention relates to an improved method of producing products comprising a target protein (TP) capable of crystallising under salting-in conditions by crystallisation of the TP. The invention makes use of at least two different TP-containing protein feeds which are mixed to prepare a supersaturated protein solution in which TP is crystallized. One of the protein feeds must have a pH of at least the pH providing the maximum crystallisation yield of the TP (pH.sub.MCY,TP) plus 0.1 and one of the protein feeds must have a pH of at most pH.sub.MCY,TP minus 0.1.