Existence of peptidase activities in mullet Mugil cephalus roe

In order to understand the mechanism of a remarkable increase of free amino acids during the processing of dried mullet roe, hydrolyzing activities of various enzyme extracts from the fresh roe toward α-aminoacyl β-naphthylamides and α-N-benzoyl-DL-arginine β-naphthylamide as well as the effects of monoiodoacetic acid, puromycin, and EDTA on the hydrolyzing activities were ex-amined. The results obtained indicated the existence in the roe of at least a few soluble amino-peptidases, cathepsin H-like enzyme, and more than two kinds of insoluble peptidases.