Comparison of heat-induced aggregation of globular proteins.

Typically, heat-induced aggregation of proteins is studied using a single protein under various conditions (e.g., temperature). Because different studies use different conditions and methods, a mechanistic relationship between molecular properties and the aggregation behavior of proteins has not been identified. Therefore, this study investigates the kinetics of heat-induced aggregation and the size/density of formed aggregates for three different proteins (ovalbumin, ß-lactoglobulin, and patatin) under various conditions (pH, ionic strength, concentration, and temperature). The aggregation rate of ß-lactoglobulin was slower (>10 times) than that of ovalbumin and patatin. Moreover, the conditions (pH, ionic strength, and concentration) affected the aggregation kinetics of ß-lactoglobulin more strongly than for ovalbumin and patatin. In contrast to the kinetics, for all proteins the aggregate size/density increased with decreasing electrostatic repulsion. By comparing these proteins under these conditions, it became clear that the aggregation behavior cannot easily be correlated to the molecular properties (e.g., charge and exposed hydrophobicity).

Potato Patatin Generates Short-Chain Fatty Acids from Milk Fat that Contribute to Flavour Development in Cheese Ripening.

The potato lipase, patatin, has long been thought of as essentially inactive towards triacylglycerols. Recently, technology has been developed to isolate potato proteins in native form as food ingredients at industrial scale. Characterisation of native patatin obtained in this way revealed that this enzyme activity towards triacylglycerols has been underestimated. This enables the application of patatin in cheese ripening, which is described in this study. When patatin is added to milk during cheese making, the lipase preferentially releases short-chain fatty acids that contribute to cheese flavour in a dose-dependent manner. Fortuitously, the lipase activity is found mainly in the curd. The release of the short-chain fatty acids matches the activity profile of patatin towards homotriacylglycerols of defined chain length. Residual patatin in the whey fraction can be inactivated effectively by heat treatment that follows Arrhenius kinetics. The results are discussed in terms of cheese making, patatin substrate preference and implications for the use of patatin more generally in food emulsions.

Towards predicting the stability of protein-stabilized emulsions.

The protein concentration is known to determine the stability against coalescence during formation of emulsions. Recently, it was observed that the protein concentration also influences the stability of formed emulsions against flocculation as a result of changes in the ionic strength. In both cases, the stability was postulated to be the result of a complete (i.e. saturated) coverage of the interface. By combining the current views on emulsion stability against coalescence and flocculation with new experimental data, an empiric model is established to predict emulsion stability based on protein molecular properties such as exposed hydrophobicity and charge. It was shown that besides protein concentration, the adsorbed layer (i.e. maximum adsorbed amount and interfacial area) dominates emulsion stability against coalescence and flocculation. Surprisingly, the emulsion stability was also affected by the adsorption rate. From these observations, it was concluded that a completely covered interface indeed ensures the stability of an emulsion against coalescence and flocculation. The contribution of adsorption rate and adsorbed amount on the stability of emulsions was combined in a surface coverage model. For this model, the adsorbed amount was predicted from the protein radius, surface charge and ionic strength. Moreover, the adsorption rate, which depends on the protein charge and exposed hydrophobicity, was approximated by the relative exposed hydrophobicity (QH). The model in the current state already showed good correspondence with the experimental data, and was furthermore shown to be applicable to describe data obtained from literature.

Quantitative description of the parameters affecting the adsorption behaviour of globular proteins.

The adsorption behaviour of proteins depends significantly on their molecular properties and system conditions. To study this relation, the effect of relative exposed hydrophobicity, protein concentration and ionic strength on the adsorption rate and adsorbed amount is studied using ß-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin and lysozyme. The curves of surface elastic modulus versus surface pressure of all three proteins, under different conditions (i.e. concentration and ionic strength) superimposed. This showed that the interactions between the adsorbed proteins are similar and that the adsorbed proteins retain their native state. In addition, the adsorption rate (kadsorb) was shown to scale with the relative hydrophobicity and ionic strength. Moreover, the adsorbed amount was shown to be dependent on the protein charge and the ionic strength. Based on these results, a model is proposed to predict the maximum adsorbed amount (Γmax). The model approximates the adsorbed amount as a close-packed monolayer using a hard-sphere approximation with an effective protein radius which depends on the electrostatic repulsion. The theoretical adsorbed amount was in agreement with experimental Γmax (±10%).

Large-scale single step partial purification of potato pectin methylesterase that enables the use in major food applications.

Pectin methylesterase was extracted from potato tubers and partially purified in a single chromatographic step at large industrial scale. The preparation obtained in this way matched the temperature and pH profile of the species reported earlier by Puri et al. (Food Chemistry 8:203-213, 1982) and was enriched 23 times relative to the original potato tubers on a dry matter basis. Potato PME induced gel formation in calcium pectate across a broad pH range and should be suitable for application in the food industry. The procedure presented here represents a sustainable way to recover enzymes from vegetable juices.

Improved emulsion stability by succinylation of patatin is caused by partial unfolding rather than charge effects.

This study investigates the influence of succinylation on the molecular properties (i.e. charge, structure and hydrophobicity) and the flocculation behavior of patatin-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. Patatin was succinylated to five degrees (0% (R0) to 57% (R2.5)). Succinylation not only resulted in a change of the protein charge but also in (partial) unfolding of the secondary structure, and consequently in an increased initial adsorption rate of the protein to the oil-water interface. The stability against salt-induced flocculation showed two distinct regimes, instead of a gradual shift in stability as expected by the DLVO theory. While flocculation was observed at ionic strengths >30 mM for the emulsions stabilized by the variants with the lowest degrees of modification (R0-R1), the other variants (R1.5-R2.5) were stable against flocculation ≤200 mM. This was related to the increased initial adsorption rate, and the consequent transition from a protein-poor to a protein-rich regime. This was confirmed by the addition of excess protein to the emulsions stabilized by R0-R1 which resulted in stability against salt-induced flocculation. Therefore, succinylation of patatin indirectly results in stability against salt-induced flocculation, by increasing the initial adsorption rate of the protein to the oil-water interface, leading to a shift to the protein-rich regime.

Slow and fast dietary proteins differentially modulate postprandial metabolism.

The quality of dietary proteins is influenced by their content and composition of amino acids and bioavailability. Recent data suggest that the digestion and absorption kinetics of proteins influences the effects of protein ingestion on the metabolic processes. Slowly and fast-digested dietary proteins differentially modulate postprandial protein and glucose metabolism. This is an important factor for defining the physiological outcome and application for nutritional purposes of different dietary protein sources.

Effect of glycation on the flocculation behavior of protein-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions.

Glycation of proteins by the Maillard reaction is often considered as a method to prevent flocculation of protein-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. The effect has been suggested, but not proven, to be the result of steric stabilization, and to depend on the molecular mass of the carbohydrate moiety. To test this, the stabilities of emulsions of patatin glycated to the same extent with different mono- and oligosaccharides (xylose, glucose, maltotriose, and maltopentaose) were compared under different conditions (pH and electrolyte concentration). The emulsions with non-modified patatin flocculate under conditions in which the zeta potential is decreased (around the iso-electric point and at high ionic strength). The attachment of monosaccharides (i.e., glucose) did not affect the flocculation behavior. Attachment of maltotriose and maltopentaose (Mw > 500 Da), on the other hand, provided stability against flocculation at the iso-electric point. Since the zeta potential and the interfacial properties of the emulsion droplets are not affected by the attachment of the carbohydrate moieties, this is attributed to steric stabilization. Experimentally, a critical thickness of the adsorbed layer required for steric stabilization against flocculation was found to be 2.29-3.90 nm. The theoretical determination based on the DLVO interactions with an additional steric interaction coincides with the experimental data. Hence, it can be concluded that the differences in stability against pH-induced flocculation are caused by steric interactions.

Protein concentration and protein-exposed hydrophobicity as dominant parameters determining the flocculation of protein-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions.

DLVO theory is often considered to be applicable to the description of flocculation of protein-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. To test this, emulsions made with different globular proteins (ß-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin, patatin, and two variants of ovalbumin) were compared under different conditions (pH and electrolyte concentration). As expected, flocculation was observed under conditions in which the zeta potential is decreased (around the isoelectric point and at high ionic strength). However, the extent of flocculation at higher ionic strength (>50 mM NaCl) decreased with increasing protein-exposed hydrophobicity. A higher exposed hydrophobicity resulted in a higher zeta potential of the emulsion droplets and consequently increased stability against flocculation. Furthermore, the addition of excess protein strongly increased the stability against salt-induced flocculation, which is not described by DLVO theory. In the protein-poor regime, emulsions showed flocculation at high ionic strength (>100 mM NaCl), whereas emulsions were stable against flocculation if excess protein was present. This research shows that the exposed hydrophobicity of the proteins and the presence of excess protein affect the flocculation behavior.

Digestion kinetics of potato protein isolates in vitro and in vivo.

Recently, an industrial process was developed to isolate native protein fractions from potato: a high (HMW) and a low (LMW) molecular weight fraction. Digestion kinetics of HMW and LMW was studied in vitro and in vivo and compared with reference proteins. Under simulated conditions, highest digestion was found for whey protein, followed by soy, pea, HMW, casein and LMW. Ingestion of 20 g of proteins by eight healthy subjects (following a randomized, double-blind, cross-over design) induced a slow and moderate increase with HMW and LMW, while a peaked and high increase with whey protein, in postprandial plasma amino acid levels. Casein gave a similar profile as HMW, with higher levels. Contrary to whey and casein, HMW and LMW did not result in any changes in plasma insulin or glucose levels. This study provides insights in digestion of native potato protein isolates to assist their use as protein sources in food applications.

Rheological properties of patatin gels compared with ß-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin, and glycinin.

BACKGROUND: The thermal unfolding and rheological properties of patatin gels were compared with those of commonly used proteins (ß-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin, glycinin). RESULTS: A significant difference between these proteins was observed in both the denaturation temperature (59 °C for patatin; about 20 °C lower than the other proteins) and the onset temperature of gel formation (50-60 °C, compared to 70-85 °C for the other proteins). At low ionic strength the minimal concentration was only 6% (w/v) for patatin, compared to 8-11% for the other proteins. This effect was attributed to the relatively high exposed hydrophobicity of patatin as determined by hydrophobic interaction chromatography. For gels compared at 'iso-strength', the frequency dependence was found to be close to identical, while small differences were observed in the strain at fracture. CONCLUSIONS: Patatin was found to form gels with comparable small-deformational rheological properties as typical food proteins. In addition, at concentrations where the elastic modulus was similar for all proteins, the frequency and strain dependence were also comparable. From this it is concluded that patatin is a promising protein to be used in food applications as a gelling agent.

Assessment of technological options and economical feasibility for cyanophycin biopolymer and high-value amino acid production.

Major transitions can be expected within the next few decades aiming at the reduction of pollution and global warming and at energy saving measures. For these purposes, new sustainable biorefinery concepts will be needed that will replace the traditional mineral oil-based synthesis of specialty and bulk chemicals. An important group of these chemicals are those that comprise N-functionalities. Many plant components contained in biomass rest or waste stream fractions contain these N-functionalities in proteins and free amino acids that can be used as starting materials for the synthesis of biopolymers and chemicals. This paper describes the economic and technological feasibility for cyanophycin production by fermentation of the potato waste stream Protamylassetrade mark or directly in plants and its subsequent conversion to a number of N-containing bulk chemicals.