Abstract
Enzymes play a pivotal role in meat processing and maturation, starting with endogenous enzymes that catalyse a partial proteolysis in natural meat that enhances texture and flavor, to exogenous enzymes that may be incorporated for additional processing. Therefore, a question is raised whether endogenous and exogenous proteases could be used to improve the quality of meat products originated from in vitro cell-based technology. This manuscript aims at presenting the main applications of enzymes in meat processing, starting with conventional meat products and expanding to reported and potential applications in cultured meat technologies. Enzymes are applied since the early stages of cell isolation, multiplication and detaching from supports. The use of endogenous enzymes, such as cathepsins and calpains, has been proposed to improve the palatability of cultivated meat, and the application of transglutaminases has already been reported in scientific papers and patent documents, with the aim of promoting crosslinking reactions among proteins. This feature can be used to modulate the texture of cultivated meat products. Also, their use has been directed to the manufacture of scaffolds and microcarriers for animal cell cultivation. As concluded from the scientific and technological literature survey, it is evident that a substantial area of study remains unexplored regarding the utilization of enzymes in cultivated meat products.
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Authors are thankful to the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the State of Paraná (SETI-PR) for supporting this work.
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This work was supported by the Araucária Foundation [NAPI Proteínas Alternativas, grant number 19.810.961-4] and by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq [grant number 309237/2021-1].
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SGK: literature survey, writing and supervision; MZW: literature survey and writing; GB: literature survey and writing; KPL: literature survey and writing; GVMP: writing and revision; VTS: supervision and funding; CRS: supervision and funding.
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As an Editor and an Editorial Board member of SMAB, the authors Carlos Ricardo Soccol and Susan Grace Karp declare a conflict of interest for this paper. They have been excluded from the peer review and decision-making process to ensure unbiased evaluation and strict adherence to ethical guidelines.
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Karp, S.G., Weber, M.Z., Biagini, G. et al. Enzymes in the production of cultivated meat products. Syst Microbiol and Biomanuf (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43393-024-00284-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43393-024-00284-6