Abstract
The incorporation of dansyl glutamine (DG) into fish muscle protein mediated by transglutaminase (TGase) was examined in order to get new information on the behavior of the lysine residues of the protein during setting fish flesh sol. Muscle TGase-free minces from various fish and poultries were ground with NaCl, Alaska pollack muscle TGase extract, and DG and incubated at 30°C. With the prolongation of incubation, the amount of DG incorporated increased. The increment of its amount was larger in the order of Alaska pollack>Pacific mackerel>horse mackerel_??_chicken_??_beef_??_pork, whose order was in agreement with that of the increment of the breaking force of suwari gel formed from each species without DG, with that of the increment of cross-linked myosin heavy chain and the decrement of myosin heavy chain in the gel, and with that of the increment of the amount of monodansyl cadaverine incorporated. In addition, myosin heavy chain and cross-linked myosin heavy chain were labeled with DG during setting muscle TGase-free Alaska pollack sol at 30°C for 3 h in the presence of the muscle TGase extract from its surimi.
