Abstract Thistle flowers are traditional coagulants that have been used for many years in southern Europe and northern Africa for cheese production. The flowers contain aspartic proteases (APs) with high milk-clotting and cheeses produced with the vegetable coagulants tend to have a creamier and softer texture and more intense odour and flavour compared with those made with commercial chymosin or calf rennet. This review provides an overview of structural characteristics of the APs and their functional properties such as pH and temperature-dependence of their enzyme activity, substrate specificities, and technological applications, with a focus on cheese manufacturing. The review also refers to recent achievements on in vitro production of the APs present in thistle flowers using recombinant enzyme technologies. These techniques could be considered as promising strategies to scale up the production of plant APs to strengthen the industrial applications of the vegetable enzymes.

中文翻译：

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来自蓟花的天冬氨酸蛋白酶：现代奶酪工业中使用的传统凝固剂

摘要 蓟花是传统的凝固剂，在南欧和北非用于奶酪生产已有多年历史。与使用商业凝乳酶或小牛凝乳酶制成的奶酪相比，这些花含有具有高凝乳率的天冬氨酸蛋白酶 (AP)，并且用植物凝固剂生产的奶酪往往具有更奶油和更柔软的质地以及更强烈的气味和风味。本综述概述了 AP 的结构特征及其功能特性，例如其酶活性的 pH 值和温度依赖性、底物特异性和技术应用，重点是奶酪制造。该评论还提到了使用重组酶技术在体外生产蓟花中存在的 AP 的最新成果。