The roles of native milk proteinase and its zymogen during proteolysis in normal bovine milk.

Proteolysis was measured quantitatively in normal bulk milk, either raw, pasteurized or heated (95 degrees C, 15 min). During incubation at 37 degrees C for 24 h, about 0.7 mM of peptide bonds were split in raw milk, and 1.8 mM after activation of the zymogen with urokinase. The same values were observed in pasteurized milk, and no significant activity was present in heated milk. When compared with a commercial plasmin preparation, these levels correspond to about 1.4 and 3.6 micrograms/ml of plasmin respectively. Most of this activity was separated in the micellar fraction, and it was suppressed by addition of soyabean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI). The remaining activity in the serum phase was not inhibited by SBTI and gave a rather non-specific breakdown with few well-defined casein fragments being produced. Upon further incubation, after the first 24 h, the activity increased, indicating that activation of the zymogen (plasminogen) occurred spontaneously. The rate of this activation was independent of the addition of more plasminogen and was higher in pasteurized than in raw milk. In pasteurized milk, all the native milk proteinase was in the form of the zymogen at the time of secretion. beta-Casein was the preferred substrate for the milk proteinase (plasmin) and produced gamma-caseins and proteose-peptone components 5 and 8-fast; other fragments were clearly visible on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and included degradation products of alpha-sl-casein. The formation of all these fragments was enhanced by addition of urokinase alone, or of plasminogen and urokinase, or by increasing the incubation time. They were also produced by incubating the micellar fraction alone, but not the serum fraction. Additional fragments were produced when porcine plasmin was added presumably due to differences in specificity between the porcine and bovine enzymes or to contaminating enzymes. Proteolysis induced by additions of plasminogen alone, or of plasminogen plus urokinase, was closer to that observed for the native milk proteinase, and must be recommended for future work in which it is desired to enhance the level of proteinase without altering breakdown patterns, unless a very pure bovine plasmin is available.