Characterization and Role of Polyphenol Oxidase and Peroxidase in Browning of Fresh-Cut Melon

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 2008-01, Vol.56 (1), p.132-138
• Main Authors: Chisari, Marco, Barbagallo, Riccardo N, Spagna, Giovanni
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; browning; cantaloupes; catechol oxidase; Catechol Oxidase - metabolism; Chem Process/Storage; Chemical Phenomena; Chemistry, Physical; cold storage; Cucumis melo - enzymology; Cucumis melo subsp. melo var. inodorus; enzymatic browning; enzyme activity; enzyme inhibition; Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology; Enzyme Stability; Food industries; food storage; fresh-cut foods; fresh-cut melon; fructose; Fruit and vegetable industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; glucose; honeydew melons; Hot Temperature; Kinetics; Maillard Reaction; Melon; peroxidase; Peroxidase - metabolism; polyphenol oxidase; thermal stability; Thermodynamics
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf0721491

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD) were extracted from two different varieties of melon (Cucumis melo L. cantalupensis cv. Charentais and C. melo L. inodorus cv. Amarillo) and characterized using reliable spectrophotometric methods. In both cases the enzymes followed Michaelis–Menten kinetics, showing different values of kinetics parameters between the two cultivars: K m = 7.18 ± 0.70 mM (‘Charentais’) and 6.66 ± 0.20 mM (‘Amarillo’) mM; V max = 7.93 ± 0.35 units/min (‘Charentais’) and 13.82 ± 0.37 units/min (‘Amarillo’), relative to PPO; K m = 24.0 ± 2.10 mM (‘Charentais’) and 5.05 ± 0.19 mM (‘Amarillo’) mM; V max = 344.83 ± 10.32 units/min (‘Charentais’) and 80.64 ± 2.01 units/min (‘Amarillo’), relative to POD. Optimum pH for PPO was 7.0 for ‘Charentais’ and 7.5 for ‘Amarillo, whereas it was 4.5 for both cultivars relative to POD. Melon PPO had maximum activity at 60 °C in both ‘Charentais’ and ‘Amarillo’ cultivars, whereas POD maximum activity was found at 45 °C in ‘Charentais’ and at 25 °C in ‘Amarillo’. POD from both cultivars showed higher thermolability compared with PPO, losing >90% of relative activity after only 5 min of incubation at 70 °C. PODʼs activation energy was much higher than that of PPO (ΔE # = 86.3 and 160.6 kJ mol−1 for ‘Charentais’ and ‘Amarillo’, respectively). PPO and POD activities from both cultivars showed a decreasing pattern as sugar concentration in the assay medium increased, except in POD extract from ‘Charentais’, which maintained its activity in the presence of high d-glucose concentration (up to 5 M). Changes in L*, a*, b*, chroma, and hue angle values were chosen to describe the browning development in the samples during storage at 5 °C. A slight decrease in L* value and a more marked reduction of a* value were noted in both cultivars above all at the end of storage period. POD activity during storage at 5 °C was highly correlated with changes of parameters a*, b*, chroma, and hue angle (r 2 from 0.82 to 0.97) for cultivar ‘Charentais’. According to these results, only POD activity seemed to be involved in browning of minimally processed melon.