COMPARISON OF CRABMEAT PROTEIN-PATTERNS BY ISOELECTRIC-FOCUSING

Isoelectric focusing (IEF) of the water and urea extracts of raw or co oked blue crabmeat showed no difference in protein banding patterns wi th respect to sex, body part (body lump and claw), time of year (Janua ry, April, June, August and October) or locations (Florida, Maryland, Louisiana and South Carolina) of harvesting, though differences in int ensities of some bands occurred. However, the cooked Taiwanese crabmea t was found to differ in IEF profiles from the US blue crab and the tw o frozen crabmeat blocks from China. IEF and two-dimensional gel elect rophoresis (2-DGE) were not effective for differentiating pasteurized or canned crabmeat from different countries of origin. Heat treatment during pasteurization and canning drastically affected protein composi tion and thus the profiles. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.