CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS OF CHEDDAR CHEESE

Free solution capillary electrophoresis (FSCE) and micellar electrokin etic capillary chromatography (MECC) methods were developed using stan dard compounds. Each method was examined for its ability to simultaneo usly resolve caseins, peptides, and various small molecules found in C heddar cheese. FSCE with phosphate-urea-acetonitrile run buffer separa ted caseins and large peptides, but this method was not robust with re spect to resolution of milk proteins and peptides. Additionally, peak resolution with phosphate-urea buffer degraded after about 50 samples. MECC with borate-SDS run buffer simultaneously separated alpha- and b eta-caseins, peptides, several free amino acids, and small aromatic mo lecules within 25 min. MECC was robust and electropherograms of phosph ate-soluble Cheddar cheese fractions suggest that it may be a valuable tool to study the biochemistry of cheese maturation.