Intervention on activity and structure of cathepsin L during surimi gel degradation under microwave irradiation

Abstract This study was aimed to investigate the effect of microwave heating (MWH) on the activity and conformation of cathepsin L (Cat L) compared to traditional conduction heating during surimi gel degradation stage. The gel properties and SDS-PAGE analysis showed that hydrolysis of myosin heavy chain was prevented by microwave. The activity of Cat L was affected by microwave power and heating time, which inhibited by MWH mainly due to the changes of conductivity caused by the vibration of polar groups under MWH. In addition, the reduction of total sulfhydryl group of Cat L during microwave irradiation led to conformation changes of Cat L. Significant decrease (P