Protein Profiles of Buffalo Milk Dangke as a Traditional Product of Enrekang, South Sulawesi

Abstract Dangke is a processed product and made through a fermentation process which facilitates coagulation responsible for its texture. With the addition of some ingredients, it has a unique texture and is popular as a soft cheese. In addition, lactic acid bacteria in raw buffalo milk are able to hydrolyse casein into peptides, a smaller form of protein fragments. This work aimed to investigate protein profiles of dangke collected from three villages (P1 –Rugo; P2 – Rugo; P3 – Sumbang) in Enrekang, South Sulawesi. Molecular size and purity of the fractions were determined using SDS-PAGE experiment, The amount of purified protein byof dangke was quantified using Lowry protocols. As a result, P2 showed the highest protein content of 19.36%. The dangke samples had different protein concentration as follows: P1 (12.29 mg/ml), P2 (14.54 mg/mL), and P3 (13.07 mg/mL). Based on SDS-Page analysis, the highest protein band for dangke was detected in P2 with 26.5 kDa which was much lower than that for buffalo milk with P2 71.9 kDa. In summary, the differences in protein profiles, protein concentration, and molecular weight between dangke samples from different sites revealed proteolysis activities by protease.