腌制是肉类加工的重要方式之一。盐在腌制过程中除了可改变肌肉细胞内外渗透压，还可通过影响酶蛋白的活性，调控生物化学反应，从而影响产品的风味。肉品干腌过程作用本质为内源酶系协同催化下的级联生化反应；在非稳态过程中，内源酶系的释放、激活、催化效率及级联催化过程的交互作用研究，是肉类干腌生化过程机制解析的基础。申请者在前期生产和研究中，发现微量金属离子差异，显著影响组织蛋白酶活力和蛋白质降解程度，进而影响产品风味。金属离子对于多酶级联催化微环境，以及酶蛋白活性均有影响；然而，腌制用盐中金属离子对于整体干腌过程的影响，及其对干腌肉品质响应机制尚未明晰。本项目拟从金属离子对内源性多酶催化微环境及级联催化过程的影响出发，采用细胞生物学、酶学、蛋白组学等技术手段，研究金属离子的综合作用规律，结合统计学分析及数学建模，阐明其综合作用机制。本项目成果将对肉制品生产工艺标准化及产品质量控制产生指导。

Curing is one of the most important technologies and has been widely applied in food industry. Salts play a key role in the meat processing, and it could change the osmotic pressure in the cell, regulate the bioactivity and cause the biochemical reaction which would results in the typical flavor formation in food. The essence of the meat curing process is the cascade biochemical reaction catalyzed by the endogenous enzymes. In the non-steady state process, the release, activation, catalytic efficiency and the interaction between the cascade catalytic process of the endogenous enzyme system are the basis of the investigation of the mechanism of the biochemical process of dry-curing of meat. The applicant found that minor metal ions composition difference significantly affected the cathepsin activity and proteolysis, and even affected the flavor in the meat products. Metal ions showed influence on the microenvironment and activity of endogenous proteases. However, the mechanism of the metal ions on the cured meat quality requires to be investigated. The aim of this project is to further investigate the influence of metal ions in the view of the cascade catalytic process of the endogenous enzyme system with the help of cell biology, enzyme engineering technology and proteomics, in order to establish the function law of the metal ions with the combination of statistical analysis and mathematical model. The theory could provide the guidance the meat products’ quality control, and the standardization of meat products production.