Enhanced synthesis of succinylated whey protein isolate by pulsed electric field pretreatment

• Published in: Food chemistry 2021-11, Vol.363, p.129892-129892, Article 129892
• Main Authors: Xu, Fei-Yue, Wen, Qing-Hui, Wang, Rui, Li, Jian, Chen, Bo-Ru, Zeng, Xin-An
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Iron loading; Modification; Pulsed electric field; Secondary structure; Succinylation; Whey protein isolate
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129892

[Display omitted] •PEF pretreatment can promote subsequent succinylation of WPI.•Higher degree of succinylation (DS) of WPI could enhance its iron binding ability.•Hydrophobicity, intrinsic fluorescent and SH content can indicate the DS of WPI. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of pulse electric field (PEF) as a pretreatment for whey protein isolate (WPI) before its succinylation. The degree of succinylation (DS) of WPI increased from 88.31% for native WPI to 93.45% for PEF-pretreated WPI (PWPI, initial pH 10.0) for the same succinic anhydride (SA) to WPI ratio (1:1). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy analysis proved the successful succinylation of WPI. For PWPIs, the surface hydrophobicity, exposed sulphydryl, and total sulphydryl decreased, which indicates the occurrence of changes in protein structures with more hydrophilic groups and better protein dispersion. Moreover, PEF may expose more amino acid residues binding sites that are present inside the protein, which is more suitable for succinylation. Therefore, the PEF pretreatment of proteins can improve their efficient use that is expected to play a critical role in succinylation industry.