Nickel-Carnosine complex:A new carrier for enzymes immobilization by affinity adsorption

Immobilization is an effective method to promote the application of enzyme industry for improving the stability and realizing recovery of enzyme.To some extent,the performance of immobilized enzyme depends on the choice of carrier material.Therefore,the development of new carrier materials has been one of the key issues concerned by enzyme immobilization researchers.In this work,a novel organic-inorganic hybrid material,nickel-carnosine complex (NiCar),was synthesized for the first time by solvothermal method.The obtained NiCar exhibits spherical morphology,hierarchical porosity and abun-dant unsaturated coordination nickel ions,which provide excellent anchoring sites for the immobiliza-tion of proteins.His-tagged organophosphate-degrading enzyme (OpdA) and ω-transaminase (ω-TA)were used as model enzymes to evaluate the performance of NiCar as a carrier.By a simple adsorption process,the enzyme molecules can be fixed on the particles of NiCar,and the stability and reusability are significantly improved.The analysis of protein adsorption on NiCar verified that the affinity adsorp-tion between the imidazole functional group on the protein and the unsaturated coordination nickel ions on NiCar was the main force in the immobilization process,which provided an idea way for the develop-ment of new enzyme immobilization carriers.     

The effects of cereal additives in low-fat sausages and meatballs. Part 1: Untreated and enzyme-treated rye bran

Rye bran was added to frankfurter-type sausages and meatballs with the aim of producing low-fat products with increased dietary fibre content. The addition of untreated rye bran to sausages was detrimental, causing a substantial increase in frying loss (20% compared to 13.2%). The addition of rye bran treated with hydrolytic enzymes reduced the frying loss to 15.2–16.4%. The firmness was also improved by the treatments (12.8–14.2 N compared to 8.8 N). Enzymatic treatment of rye bran did not however improve the water-holding capacity or the texture of sausages compared to the rye bran that had only been soaked in water. The reason could be that enzymes degraded the solubilized fraction of the dietary fibre, leaving small fragments that cannot contribute to the water-holding capacity and the texture of the sausages. The benefits of treating rye bran in water were not seen in meatballs, probably due to the more particulate structure of meatballs, which is not as sensitive to additives.     

Rheological performance of pectin-enriched products isolated from red beet (Beta vulgaris L. var. conditiva) through alkaline and enzymatic treatments

The rheological performance of pectin-enriched products extracted from red beet (Beta vulgaris L. var. conditiva) root by-products was evaluated in the present work. They were extracted through an alkaline pre-treatment with or without a subsequent enzymatic (hemicellulase or cellulase) hydrolysis at pH 5.2. Flow assays performed with 2.00% w/v-pectin aqueous systems showed pseudoplastic (flow index, n ≈ 0.4 or 0.8) or Newtonian (n = 1.0) behaviour after fitting of experimental data to Ostwald’s law, also showing poor thickening effect. When Ca²⁺ was added to water with the same pectin concentration, true gels developed as confirmed by the mechanical spectra obtained through dynamic assays. Junction zones of homogalacturonan (HG) side chains mediated by Ca²⁺ were able to build up rigid networks in water.Isolated pectins (2.00% w/v) were also used to constitute milk model systems. Whole and skimmed milk were used at two different concentrations. Milk systems showed more transient and weaker gel networks when compared to Ca²⁺-aqueous systems, and were associated to the formation of a [κ-casein?calcium cross linked low methoxyl pectin] complex dampened by the included milk fat globules. Relaxation spectra of pectin-milk systems were in general extended to large relaxation times (10⁴ s) for all isolated fractions studied, which is typical of structured systems. Since all pectin fractions showed very similar chemical composition and molecular weight (average value and distribution), it was suggested that some differences in the rheological performance of each pectin product came from the different length of arabinans and distribution of rhamnose kinks (RG-I, random coil) as well as from the length of demethylated HG chains (semi-flexible coils).The results of this research show that the pectin-enriched fractions isolated from red beet root wastes are useful as additives in food formulation.     

Enzymatic modifications of pea protein and its application in protein-cassava and corn starch gels

The interactions between starch and proteins during processing influence pasting and rheological properties of starch and produce modifications on starch gel structure. Enzymatic modifications have been proposed for overcoming the limitations of using proteins as food ingredients. This work aimed to study the impact of native and enzymatically modified pea proteins on the properties of protein-starch (from cassava or corn) gels. Pea protein isolate (PPI) was incubated with endopeptidase (AL) or microbial transglutaminase (TG). Pasting profile, rheological behaviour and water retention capacity of protein-starch gels were analyzed. Protein (native and enzymatically modified) incorporation increased the viscosity of both corn and cassava starches during gel preparation. However, the hydrolyzed protein reduced drastically the increment of viscosity of protein-starch gels. The addition of PPI led to corn starch network that shifted from an elastic-like nature to a more viscous-like, whereas the opposite effect was observed in cassava gel network. TG- and AL-treated proteins led to a decrease of both G′ and G″ moduli of protein-starch gels, and AL-treated proteins showed the highest decrease on these parameters. Hydrolyzed proteins also favoured the syneresis of the protein-corn starch gel, whereas crosslinked proteins tended to reduce it. Enzymatic modifications of pea proteins affected significantly pasting and rheological properties of protein-starch gels.     

Effect of Enzyme Pre-treatments on Bioactive Compounds in Extracted Tiger Nut Oil and Sugars in Residual Meals

Tiger nut oil is a novel oil that requires more research data on its characteristics. In this study, the oil was extracted using both enzyme‐aided pressing (EAP) and aqueous enzymatic extraction (AEE) methods. Using enzymes as a pre‐treatment prior to mechanical pressing increased the concentration of some phenolic acids and tocopherols present in extracted oils compared to controls. High pressure processing as a pre‐treatment before aqueous enzymatic extraction also enhanced tocopherols and total polyphenolic content in oils. The percentage free fatty acid and peroxide values indicated that under the initial extraction parameters, the oils were stable and they all met the standards for virgin olive oil set by the International Olive Oil Council. Residual meals from both extraction processes contained low protein contents ranging from 2.4 to 4.6 %. Additionally, EAP and AEE meals contained low DP (degree of polymerisation) sugars that appeared as 1‐kestose (DP3) and nystose (DP4). EAP had the highest total DP3 and DP4 sugar content of 82.5 mg/g. These sugars would need further assessment to verify their identity and determine their suitability as a potential food.     

Significance of yeasts in the fermentation of maize for ogi production

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida krusei, C. tropicalis, Geotrichum candidum, G. fermentans and Rhodotorula graminis were isolated during the fermentation of maize for ogi production. All the isolates except Geotrichum fermentans and Rhodotorula graminis were able to degrade phytate. All the yeasts strains exhibited lipase and esterase activities. Only S. cerevisiae (2.60%) and C. krusei (7.41%) exhibited amylase activities. Candida sp. produced wider zone of inhibition than the other yeasts strains tested during lipase activity while S. cerevisiae strains produced significantly wider zone of clearing as compared to the other yeasts for esterase activities. The study of inter-relationships between Lactobacillus plantarum and yeasts (C. krusei and S. cerevisiae) showed that the growth of the yeast strains were enhanced during fermentation by the presence of the lactic acid bacteria, but the growth of the L. plantarum strain was significantly enhanced especially by the C. krusei.     

Effect of brine thawing/salting on endogenous enzyme activity and sensory quality of Iberian dry-cured ham

Simultaneous brine thawing/salting process was applied as an alternative to traditional pile salting process using 51 frozen Iberian hams. The effect of this type of salting process on endogenous enzyme activity and sensory quality of Iberian dry-cured hams was analysed. The frozen hams were simultaneously thawed and salted with saturated brine, with and without vacuum pulses, and were compared to hams thawed under refrigeration and traditionally salted. The peptidase and lipase activities were measured at the end of salting and post-salting stages. The activity of cathepsin B+L was reduced in the two brine salted batches while few differences among batches were observed for the other peptidases. Several lipase activities were significantly reduced in the two brine salted batches. The brine thawed processing affected the free fatty acid content at the different stages although the differences were more appreciated at the beginning of the process and no differences were observed at the end. The long ripening time makes these differences negligible and the consumer did not appreciate any differences between the sensory quality of Iberian brine/thawed hams and traditional Iberian thawed pile salted hams.     

超高压对胡萝卜-草莓复合汁中酶和微生物的影响

目的：为利用超高压技术加工鲜榨果汁提供依据；方法：采用超高压处理鲜榨胡萝卜-草莓复合汁，发现不同压力、保压时间对复合果汁中POD、PPO和LOX酶的活性及其微生物的致死作用不同；结果：在200，300，400，500，600MPa分别处理20min时，POD最耐压，LOX对压力最敏感，其中600MPa下POD、PPO和LOX分别失活46．15％、52％和77．24％。在400MPa、20min处理的复合汁中大肠杆菌≤3MPN／100mL，细菌总数≤10CFU／mL。     

Antioxidant activity of several marine skin gelatins

Gelatins obtained from the skins of tuna and halibut, and from the tunics of jumbo flying squid were hydrolysed by Alcalase to produce antioxidant peptides. Hydrolysis yielded an increase in the antioxidant capacity of gelatins of around two-fold when measured by the Fe reducing capacity (FRAP) method and even more when measured by the ABTS radical scavenging method. When both squid and tuna gelatins were hydrolysed with different enzymes (collagenase, trypsin, pepsin), Alcalase and pepsin gave the hydrolysates with the highest and lowest ABTS radical scavenging ability, respectively. FRAP assay showed that the squid hydrolysates prepared using Alcalase were the most effective in reducing ferric ions, whereas trypsin gave rise to the tuna hydrolysates with the highest iron reducing ability. When the amino acid composition of the gelatins was related to the antioxidant properties, ABTS radical scavenging was observed to be negatively correlated to the total content of hydrophobic amino acids and imino acids in all the samples, while Fe reducing power (FRAP) was strongly correlated with Hyl and degree of hydroxylation.