Effects of high-energy ultrasound on the functional properties of proteins

In recent years, high-energy ultrasound has been used as an alternative to improve the functional properties of various proteins, such as from milk, eggs, soy and poultry. The benefits of implementing this technology depend on the inherent characteristics of the protein source and the intensity and amplitude of the ultrasound, as well as on the pH, temperature, ionic strength, time, and all of the variables that have an effect on the physicochemical properties of proteins. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the optimal conditions for each type of food. The use of ultrasound is a promising technique in food technology with a low impact on the environment, and it has thus become known as a green technology. Therefore, this review focuses on the application of high-energy ultrasound to food; its effects on the functional properties of proteins; and how different conditions such as the frequency, time, amplitude, temperature, and protein concentration affect the functional properties.     

Estimation of relative order tensors, and reconstruction of vectors in space using unassigned RDC data and its application

Advances in NMR instrumentation and pulse sequence design have resulted in easier acquisition of Residual Dipolar Coupling (RDC) data. However, computational and theoretical analysis of this type of data has continued to challenge the international community of investigators because of their complexity and rich information content. Contemporary use of RDC data has required a-priori assignment, which significantly increases the overall cost of structural analysis. This article introduces a novel algorithm that utilizes unassigned RDC data acquired from multiple alignment media (nD-RDC, n  3) for simultaneous extraction of the relative order tensor matrices and reconstruction of the interacting vectors in space.Estimation of the relative order tensors and reconstruction of the interacting vectors can be invaluable in a number of endeavors. An example application has been presented where the reconstructed vectors have been used to quantify the fitness of a template protein structure to the unknown protein structure. This work has other important direct applications such as verification of the novelty of an unknown protein and validation of the accuracy of an available protein structure model in drug design. More importantly, the presented work has the potential to bridge the gap between experimental and computational methods of structure determination.     

2,7-二氯荧光素与蛋白质相互作用的分光光度法研究

首次采用分光光度法研究了模拟生理条件(pH 7.4 Tris-HCl缓冲溶液,离子强度I=0.1)下2,7-二氯荧光素与牛血清白蛋白(BSA)相互作用的情况.研究结果表明:两者相互作用形成稳定的复合物,最大吸收波长为509nm,与2,7-二氯荧光素的最大吸收波长502nm比较,红移了7nm;两者之间主要通过静电引力结合,但并不排除疏水作用力和氢键;两者之间的结合数为32.     

荧光法研究牛血清白蛋白与三羟基苯基荧光酮-钼(Ⅵ) 配合物探针的作用机理

用荧光光谱法研究了三羟基苯基荧光酮(TH-PF)-钼(Ⅵ)配合物与牛血清白蛋白的结合反应。探讨了TH-PF-Mo(Ⅵ)配合物对蛋白质内源荧光的猝灭机理,并测定了不同温度下的结合常数,温度为25 ℃时,荧光猝灭法测得该反应的结合常数为K=4.78×104 L·mol-1,温度为40 ℃时,荧光猝灭法测得该反应的结合常数为K=3.72×104 L·mol-1。根据Frster非辐射能量转移理论,确定了给体-受体之间的作用距离和能量转移效率(E=0.314),并根据热力学参数确定了TH-PF-Mo(Ⅵ)配合物与牛血清白蛋白之间的作用力类型,以静电引力为主。     

基于FTIR技术的酸牛奶营养成分快速检测方法研究

酸牛奶作为一种重要的发酵乳制品,伴随着发酵过程,其各种营养成分时刻发生着复杂的变化,因此,建立酸牛奶的快速高效检测技术可以实现对生产过程的实时监控,这也是食品安全监管要达到的重要目标。傅里叶变换红外光谱技术(FTIR)因其快速、高通量、无化学污染、可对掺假成分予以分辨等特点被广泛应用于食品安全领域。以FTIR技术为核心,利用氟化钙薄膜法,将酸牛奶FTIR光谱图与其营养成分(能量值,蛋白质、脂肪、碳水化合物和钠含量)对照,建立了基于最小二乘法(PLS)的定量化预测模型。结果表明,该模型样品校正集的能量值,蛋白质、脂肪、碳水化合物和钠含量的交叉检验R2值分别达到0.938 9,0.926 6,0.918 6,0.941 8和0.977 1;该模型用于预测,其样品验证集的交叉检验R2值分别为0.920 5,0.905 3,0.908 5,0.939 3和0.936 4。由此可见,该模型对酸牛奶各营养指标均具有较好的预测准确性,在时间上具备较好的稳定性。不同于传统的化学检测方法,本研究为实现对酸牛奶品质的快速检测提供了一种较为可行的方法。该方法作为乳制品质量监控技术的一项初步探索,具有较好的应用前景。     

基于高光谱技术的蛋白粉掺假检测研究

蛋白粉是健身者必备的营养补剂,市场需求在不断增加,一些不法商家为了谋取利益,在蛋白粉中加入廉价的粉末售卖。传统的蛋白粉掺杂的检测方法费时、费力,操作复杂,且成本昂贵。高光谱技术具有易于操作、在不损害实验样本的情况下可快速检测等优点,因此,提出使用高光谱技术以实现蛋白粉掺假检测。在蛋白粉中分别加入质量百分数5%～60%,浓度间隔5%的三类掺假物（玉米粉、大米粉和小麦粉）,并采集所有样本的光谱信息。在对蛋白粉中的玉米粉、大米粉和小麦粉三类掺假物进行定性判别时,首先分别采用卷积平滑（SG）、标准化（Normalize）、多元散射校正法（MSC）、基线校正（Baseline）和标准正态变换（SNV）的预处理方法对光谱数据进行处理,然后建立基于主成分回归（PCR）、反向传播神经网络（BPNN）和随机森林（RF）的模型,其中基于全波段光谱MSC预处理方法下建立的RF模型最优,其整体准确率达到了100%,其对应的R_P和RMSEP分别为0.997 9和0.018 9。在对蛋白粉中不同掺假物浓度进行定量分析时,对三类掺假样本的光谱分别进行SG,Normalize,MSC,Baseline和SNV的预处理,并建立LSSVM模型;比较不同预处理方法下的各模型之间的性能,在蛋白粉中掺玉米粉、大米粉和小麦粉的LSSVM预测模型最佳预处理方法分别是无、Baseline和Normalize,然后,采用连续投影算法（SPA）和竞争性自适应重加权算法（CARS）对其筛选,并建立LSSVM模型,三类掺假样本的SPA-LSSVM模型对应的R_P为0.989 0,0.986 0和0.997 9,CARS-LSSVM模型对应的R_P为0.991 0,0.994 6和0.999 1,故三类掺假样本的CARS-LSSVM模型预测效果更佳。研究表明：高光谱技术可以实现对蛋白粉掺假的定性、定量的检测,并且操作简单、检测快速和无损。     

Impact of ultrasound processing on alternative protein systems: Protein extraction,nutritional effects and associated challenges

Proteins from alternative sources including terrestrial and aquatic plants, microbes and insects are being increasingly explored to combat the dietary, environmental and ethical challenges linked primarily to conventional sources of protein, mainly meat and dairy proteins. Ultrasound (US) technologies have emerged as a clean, green and efficient methods for the extraction of proteins from alternative sources compared to conventional methods. However, the application of US can also lead to modifications of the proteins extracted from alternative sources, including changes in their nutritional quality (protein content, amino acid composition, protein digestibility, anti-nutritional factors) and allergenicity, as well as damage of the compounds associated with an increased degradation resulting from extreme US processing conditions. This work aims to summarise the main advances in US equipment currently available to date, including the main US parameters and their effects on the extraction of protein from alternative sources, as well as the studies available on the effects of US processing on the nutritional value, allergenicity and degradation damage of these alternative protein ingredients. The main research gaps identified in this work and future challenges associated to the widespread application of US and their scale-up to industry operations are also covered in detail.     

Study by XPS of the chlorination of proteins aggregated onto tin dioxide during electrochemical production of hypochlorous acid

In solution, hypochlorous acid (HOCl) reacts with organic matter and notably with protein side-chains. In this study, HOCl was produced by an electrochemical way, by oxidation of chloride ions at a transparent tin dioxide electrode in the presence of a protein, the bovine serum albumin (BSA). A thick irregular layer is formed at the electrode when HOCl is produced at the SnO₂ surface. Indeed, SEM analyses show that an important deposit is formed during the anodic polarization of SnO₂ in the presence of chloride ions and proteins. Actually, two phenomena take place on the one hand the chlorination of the proteins due to the reaction of HOCl with some protein side-chains and on the other hand the aggregation of proteins onto the SnO₂ surface. The present X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study points out the cross-linking of BSA molecules via formation of inter molecular sulfonamide groups. It also shows that the BSA chlorination is due on the one hand to the formation of sulfonyl chloride groups (-SO₂Cl) and on the other hand to formation of chloramine groups (N-Cl). The Cl2p and S2p photo-peak intensities allowed us to quantify the chloramines. It is found that, one BSA entity immobilized onto the SnO₂ surface contains about 50 chloramine groups.     

AFM study of BSA adlayers on Au stripes

Thin narrow Au stripes suitable for propagating long-range surface plasmon-polaritons were deposited by evaporation and lift-off on a thermal oxide layer on a silicon substrate, and modified by direct adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements reveal that BSA adsorbs onto the Au stripes from phosphate buffer solutions forming an adlayer having an average thickness of about 2 nm (surface mass density of about 2 ng/mm²). Comparisons with a simple adsorption model suggest the side-on adsorption of a single monolayer of BSA followed by denaturation and flattening. The BSA-coated stripes have an increased surface roughness compared to a virgin stripe.     

Using light to bioactivate surfaces: A new way of creating oriented, active immunobiosensors

Ultraviolet light can be used to immobilize biomolecules onto thiol reactive surfaces in order to, e.g., make biosensors. The mechanism involves light-induced formation of free, reactive thiol groups in disulphide containing molecules. This technology allows for the creation of arrays of biomolecules with a high degree of reproducibility, circumventing the need for often expensive nano/micro-dispensing technologies. The ultimate size of the immobilized spots is defined by the focal area of the UV beam. Light-induced immobilization has the added benefit that the immobilized molecules will be spatially oriented and covalently bound to the surface. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of a sensor array created with the new sensor technology when integrated into a microfluidic system. Protein arrays made using light-induced immobilization showed successful antigen/antibody binding in a flow cell allowing the visualisation of real time binding and enzyme activity. This new technology is ideal for the creation of protein/DNA microarrays, can replace present micro-dispensing arraying technologies and is ideal as a molecular imprinting technology.