Tropomyosin micelles are the major white components in the boiled soup of shellfish
Abstract Basket clam soup, a popular Asian dish, is prepared by boiling clams in hot water. The soup is generally cloudy and considered more delicious as cloudiness increases. However, the identity of the whitening ingredients and their relationship with taste remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to identify the components that contribute to the white color of the boiled soup. The white component was precipitated with trichloroacetic acid and reacted positively with ninhydrin, indicating the presence of proteins. The proteins were separated using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and an intense band was observed at 33 kDa. Peptide mass fingerprinting of this band using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation-time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry revealed the protein to be tropomyosin. Basket clam tropomyosin expressed and purified from Escherichia coli turned the extracted solution white, confirming that tropomyosin contributed to the white color of clam soup.