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Guangzhou Scikoon Industry Ltd. Co.
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2024 Posters

Sustainable Protein

Session: Sustainable Protein Forum Poster Session

Recent developments in soybean protein structure using high-shear treatment

Tuesday, April 30, 2024
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM EDT
Abstract: Microfluidization is a non-thermal technique that combines various forces such as high pressure, high-velocity impacts, high shear forces, and instantaneous pressure drops to disrupt the treated components' structure. Combining all these forces will lead to conformational modifications, impacting the secondary, tertiary, or quaternary structure when applied to plant-based proteins. These structural modifications can influence the proteins' functionality, such as solubility, foaming, emulsification, or allergenicity. In this way, our research investigates the effect of microfluidization treatment on soybean protein's secondary and tertiary structures. After using a high-shear treatment, the content of α-helix significantly decreased (p < 0.05) from 8.93 % to 8.23 %, suggesting a higher protein flexibility, which impacts the emulsion stability. A decrease in β-sheet (from 20.03 % to 8.43%) and an increase in β-turns (from 38.67 % to 46.03 %) were observed in treated samples and indicated that microfluidization might lead to protein unfolding, with the hydrophobic regions opening and becoming exposed. Also, a lower number of β-sheet could increase the digestibility of the proteins, which could be linked with a reduction in allergenicity during the digestive process. It is well known that proteins are the main compounds responsible for food allergies, and under certain conditions, literature shows a reduction in allergens for milk and peanuts. However, our studies show mild conditions (lower number of cycles) seem enough to impact the secondary structure. Related to the tertiary structure, an increase in the surface hydrophobicity is observed (from 1307.54 to 1986.29 if/g × µM). More interestingly, the highest surface hydrophobicity was observed for the highest number of cycles applied. These modifications could also improve foaming or emulsifying properties.