Abstract: With the rapid development of dairy industry in China, a growing deal of attention has been paid to the production of cheese. Chymosin plays an important role as a key enzyme in the process of cheese production, and it is an inevitable trend for chymosin to be the focus of future development in China. This paper briefly describes the types, structure, general characteristics and curding mechanism of chymosin and summarizes the different rennets used in cheese production. Future prospects of rennet are also discussed .

Key words: chymosin; progress; cheese; production; application

摘要： 随着我国乳制品行业的快速发展,奶酪的生产越来越受到人们的关注.凝乳酶是在奶酪生产过程中起凝乳作用的关键性酶,势必将成为我国未来重点开发的酶制剂之一.本文通过简要介绍凝乳酶的种类、结构、一般特性、凝乳机理以及不同凝乳酶在奶酪生产中的应用,综述了凝乳酶的研究进展,对凝乳酶的开发前景进行展望.

关键词: 凝乳酶；研究进展；奶酪；生产；应用