Mechanistic insights into the improving effects of germination on physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity of protein isolate derived from black and white sesame.

Germination is a natural green technology to improve the nutritional and techno-functional quality of plant-based proteins. In this study, the mechanism of improving the functional and antioxidant properties of black and white sesame protein isolates (SPI) through germination process was investigated. Results showed that the surface hydrophobicity and sulfhydryl content increased significantly after germination, which were supported by multispectral analysis suggesting the exposed and unfolded conformational transition of germinated SPI. Moreover, the increased particle size was observed by microscopy analysis and reducing electrophoresis, which indicated that depolymerized protein molecules were rearranged to form protein aggregates during germination. The structural modification induced by germination contributed to the superior solubility (increased to 3.15-fold and 2.36-fold at pH 8 for black and white SPI, respectively), foaming capacity (increased to 3.99-fold and 1.69-fold, respectively), emulsifying ability (increased to 2.84-fold and 2.71-fold, respectively), and diverse chemical antioxidant activities (increased up to 5.60-fold) of SPI in both varieties. This was the first comprehensive study to investigate germination as a promising technology for obtaining high-quality SPI.

Effect of extrusion on physicochemical properties and antioxidant potential of protein isolate derived from Baijiu vinasse.

Extrusion cooking is a green technology to manufacture distiller's grain food. In this study, effects of extrusion on the physicochemical properties and antioxidant potential of Baijiu vinasse protein isolate were investigated. Results showed that extrusion could effectively reduce the particle size (reduced from 275.07 ± 3.60 to 120.30 ± 1.13 nm), zeta potential, and surface hydrophobicity but increase the free sulfhydryl group of Baijiu vinasse protein isolate. Moreover, the unfolding, porous and amorphous structure was observed after extrusion by spectral analysis and X-Ray diffraction, endowing good solubility (increased from 59.26 ± 5.64% to 102.26 ± 3.21% at pH 7), foaming, and emulsifying stability. The in vitro protein digest of Baijiu vinasse protein isolates from extruded samples (200 °C, 150 rpm) exhibited most potent antioxidant activities. This study is the first to exploit extrusion as a feasible technology to produce Baijiu vinasse protein-based food. The results will be of great potential in future industrial application of Baijiu vinasse as a sustainable source of food proteins.

Identification and expression analysis of the ß-defensin genes in the goat small intestine.

Defensins represent a family of cysteine-rich peptides that have broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities and serve as a typical kind of effector molecule in the immunity. Ruminant species have a large number of ß-defensins in the absence of α- and θ-defensins. It is well-known that the genomes of sheep and cattle harbor at least 43 and 57 ß-defensin genes, respectively. However, the repertoire of the goat ß-defensin gene family has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we identified a total of 50 ß-defensins from the goat genome, including 48 functional genes and 2 pseudogenes. Cross-species genomic and evolutionary analyses showed that all of the ß-defensins in goat chromosomes 8, 13 and 23 present one-to-one orthologous relationships to their sheep and cattle counterparts, whereas some ß-defensin genes in goat chromosome 27 are goat-specific. Moreover, we observed that some duplicated genes in goat chromosome 27 may be derived from gene copy number variation, and the annotation of sheep and cattle ß-defensins appears to be incomplete in the genome. Importantly, real-time PCR analysis showed that 17 ß-defensins are expressed in the small intestine with abundant cBD1s expression. These findings significant increased our knowledge of ruminant ß-defensin and provided useful information for genetic studies, as well as providing a foundation for future research exploring the role of defensins in the immune response.

Suppressive role of microRNA-29 in hepatocellular carcinoma via targeting IGF2BP1.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer, ranking as the second leading cause of male cancer death worldwide. MicroRNA-29 (miR-29) has been demonstrated to act as a tumor suppressor in HCC. However, the regulatory mechanism of miR-29 underlying HCC growth and metastasis still remains obscure. In the present study, we showed that the expression of miR-29 was significantly reduced in HCC tissues and cell lines, and low miR-29 expression was associated with disease progression and shorter survival time of HCC patients. In vitro experiments showed that restoration of miR-29 expression caused a significant reduction in HCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Insulin like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 1 (IGF2BP1) was identified as a novel target gene of miR-29. The expression of IGF2BP1 was significantly increased in HCC tissues and cell lines. Moreover, IGF2BP1 was negatively regulated by miR-29 at the post-transcriptional levels in HCC cells. Furthermore, overexpression of IGF2BP1 attenuated the suppressive effects of miR-29 on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells. According to these above findings, our study suggests that miR-29 may play a suppressive role in HCC growth and metastasis through directly targeting IGF2BP1. Therefore, miR-29 may be used as a potential candidate for the treatment of HCC.

1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin-D3 Induces Avian ß-Defensin Gene Expression in Chickens.

Host defense peptides (HDPs) play a critical role in innate immunity. Specific modulation of endogenous HDP synthesis by dietary compounds has been regarded as a novel approach to boost immunity and disease resistance in animal production. 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D3 (1,25D3) is well known as a powerful HDP inducer in humans, but limited information about the effect of 1,25D3 on HDPs in poultry is available. Here, we sought to examine whether 1,25D3 could stimulate avian ß-defensin (AvBD) expression in chickens. We used chicken embryo intestinal epithelial cells (CEIEPCs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to study the effect of 1,25D3 on the expression of AvBDs. We observed that 1,25D3 is able to up-regulate the expression of several AvBDs in CEIEPCs and PBMCs, whereas it increased the amounts of AvBD4 mRNA in CEIEPCs only in the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). On the other hand, LPS treatment not only inhibited the expression of CYP24A1 but also altered the expression pattern of VDR in CEIEPCs. Furthermore, AvBDs were not directly regulated by 1,25D3, as cycloheximide completely blocked 1,25D3-induced expression of AvBDs. Our observations suggest that 1,25D3 is capable of inducing AvBD gene expression and is a potential antibiotic alternative through augmentation of host innate immunity as well as disease control in chickens.