Production of a natural-type green pigment from peptide and amino acid using tyrosinase

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14738
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Food science
• Research Institution: Tokyo Kasei University (2018); Ishikawa Prefectural University (2015-2017)
• Principal Investigator: Konishi Yasuko 東京家政大学, 家政学部, 教授 (80129238)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 小椋 賢治 石川県立大学, 生物資源環境学部, 教授 (50270682)
• Research Collaborator: SASAKI tetsuya
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 色素 / 酵素 / チロシナーゼ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Tyrosinase is an enzyme which oxidizes an amino acid, tyrosine, using molecular oxygen, and is responsible for skin pigmentation in mammals. Tyrosinase was added to the reaction mixture containing a kind of amino acid and a substrate peptide that contains a tyrosine residue. The reaction mixture showed reddish brown color after the reaction. The mixture was changed to other colors (yellow, green or blue etc.) depending on the kind of amino acid in the freezing. In this study, we focused on the blue pigmentation and presented a plausible mechanism for the reaction proceeding under the freezing condition.

Free Research Field

酵素化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

食品を美しく彩りその魅力を増して食欲と購買意欲を高めるため、食品には様々な色素が使用されてきた。消費者の安全志向から、現在では合成色素よりも天然色素の需要が高い。黄色や赤色には様々な天然色素が存在するが、緑色には不安定なクロロフィルに由来するものしかない。本研究では、酵素を使い、鮮やかな青色の色素をペプチドとアミノ酸から新規に調製する方法を示した。黄色色素と混合することで緑色の天然系色素ができる。