[Biochemical characterization of proteins in the crab Homalaspis plana]

Homalaspis plana is a crab found in the Pacific Ocean coasts from Guayaquil (Ecuador) all the way down to the Strait of Magellan, including all of the Chilean coast. This crustacean is an important resource because it provides jobs for artisanal fishermen. In Chile there is no product diversification from this crab and it has been poorly studied from the scientific point of view. The biochemical characterization of its proteins was initiated to be able to develop several products from its meat. We report the proteolytic activity from freshly extracted crab meat and the electrophoretical characterization of its proteins. No proteolytic activity was detected in freshly extracted crab meat, under any of the assay conditions used. SDS Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and native PAGE were carried out with proteins extracted from crab meat. Using extraction solutions at two different ionic strengths (0.05 and 0.5), myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic were separated, each showing different electrophoretical patterns in SDS-PAGE.