THE OLIGOPEPTIDES OF SWEET AND ACID CHEESE WHEY

The 12% TCA-soluble oligopeptide fraction of sweet whey from Provolone and Grana Padano cheese, and of acid whey from Quarg cheese was fract ionated by HPLC and the peptide components identified using a combinat ion of mass spectrometry and Edman degradation. in the sweet whey, in addition to the two differently phosphorylated forms of caseinomacrope ptide (CMP), the peptides beta-CN(1-29), beta-CN(1-28), alpha(s1)-CN(f 1-22), and alpha(s1)-CN(f1-23) were found. Thr chymosin-derived alpha( s1)-CN peptides were absent from the Quarg cheese whey, whereas shorte ned forms occurred as a consequence of the degradation by starter prot einases. In Quarg cheese whey, 50 peptides were from beta-CN, 34 from kappa-CN, seven from alpha(s1)-CN and none from alpha(s2)-CN. Some pep tides known to be released during the in vitro action of P-I- and P-II I-type proteinases on single casein fractions occurred also in Quarg c heese whey.