Erik van der Linden

Peptides are Building Blocks of Heat-Induced Fibrillar Protein Aggregates of β-Lactoglobulin Formed at pH 2

The proteinaceous material present in beta-lactoglobulin fibrils formed after heating (20 h at 85 degrees C) at pH 2 was identified during this study. Fibrils were separated from the nonaggregated material, and the fibrils were dissociated using 8 M guanidine chloride and 0.1 M 1,4-dithiothreitol (pH 8). Characterization of the different fractions was performed using thioflavin T fluorescence, high-performance size-exclusion chromatography, reversed-phase HPLC, and mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF). Beta-lactoglobulin was found to be hydrolyzed into peptides with molecular masses between 2000 and 8000 Da, and the fibrils were composed of a part of these peptides and not intact beta-lactoglobulin. The majority of the peptides (both aggregated and nonaggregated) were a result from cleavage of the peptide bonds before or after aspartic acid residues. Explanations for the presence of certain peptide fragments in the fibrils are the hydrophobicity, low charge, charge distribution, and capacity to form beta-sheets.

Visualisation of biopolymer mixtures using confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM) and covalent labelling techniques

Abstract Confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM) has been used to study the behaviour of mixtures of proteins, gelatine, whey proteins and β-lactoglobulin, and polysaccharides, dextran, gellan gum, carrageenan, gum Arabic, and starch. CSLM proved to be a suitable technique to visualise the microstructure of these (phase separated) mixtures in two and three-dimensional images. Contrast through fluorescence is obtained either by covalent labelling (polysaccharides and proteins) or non-covalent labelling (proteins and starch). Double and triple labelling allows the visualisation of individual components in a complex mixture of biopolymers.

Mesostructure of fibrillar bovine serum albumin gels

The mesostructure of bovine serum albumin (BSA) at low pH was investigated. Rheological measurements were performed to determine the critical percolation concentration (c(p)). A decreasing c(p) with increasing ionic strength was found. Fibrils with a contour length of about 100-300 nm were found using transmission electron microscopy. The measured conversion of monomers into fibrils was independent of ionic strength (0.20-0.30 M). Dilution of BSA samples showed that the aggregation process is reversible and that there exists a critical concentration for the self-assembly of BSA. We explain the decreasing c(p) with increasing ionic strength in terms of an adjusted random contact model.

Irreversible self-assembly of ovalbumin into fibrils and the resulting network rheology

The self-assembly of ovalbumin into fibrils and resulting network properties were investigated at pH 2, as a function of ionic strength. Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the effect of ovalbumin concentration on the contour length was determined. The contour length was increasing with increasing ovalbumin concentration. TEM micrographs were made to investigate the effect of ionic strength on the contour length. In the measured ionic strength regime (0.01-0.035 M) fibrils of approximately equal length (+/-200 nm) were observed. TEM micrographs showed that the contour length of the fibrils, versus time after dilution, remained constant, which indicates that the self-assembly of ovalbumin is irreversible. Using the results of rheological measurements, we observed a decreasing critical percolation concentration with increasing ionic strength. We explain this result in terms of an adjusted random contact model for charged semiflexible fibrils. Hereby, this model has now been proven to be valid for fibril networks of beta-lg, BSA and, currently, for ovalbumin.

Rheo-optics and food systems

Abstract Recent developments in 2D and 3D rheo-optics in foods and non-foods are being reviewed. These techniques are shown to be very valuable to construct constitutive equations that describe the non-linear rheological behaviour in 2D and 3D and couple this behaviour to the mesoscopic structure of the system.

Fibril Formation from Pea Protein and Subsequent Gel Formation

The objective of this study was to characterize fibrillar aggregates made using pea proteins, to assemble formed fibrils into protein-based gels, and to study the rheological behavior of these gels. Micrometer-long fibrillar aggregates were observed after pea protein solutions had been heated for 20 h at pH 2.0. Following heating of pea proteins, it was observed that all of the proteins were hydrolyzed into peptides and that 50% of these peptides were assembled into fibrils. Changes on a structural level in pea proteins were studied using circular dichroism, transmission electron microscopy, and particle size analysis. During the fibril assembly process, an increase in aggregate size was observed, which coincided with an increase in thioflavin T binding, indicating the presence of β-sheet aggregates. Fibrils made using pea proteins were more branched and curly. Gel formation of preformed fibrils was induced by slow acidification from pH 7.0 to a final pH of around pH 5.0. The ability of pea protein-based fibrillar gels to fracture during an amplitude sweep was comparable to those of soy protein and whey protein-based fibrillar gels, although gels prepared from fibrils made using pea protein and soy protein were weaker than those of whey protein. The findings show that fibrils can be prepared from pea protein, which can be incorporated into protein-based fibrillar gels.

Surface rheological properties of liquid–liquid interfaces stabilized by protein fibrillar aggregates and protein–polysaccharide complexes

In this study we have investigated the surface rheological properties of oil–water interfaces stabilized by fibrils from lysozyme (long and semi-flexible and short and rigid ones), fibrils from ovalbumin (short and semi-flexible), lysozyme–pectin complexes, or ovalbumin–pectin complexes. We have compared these properties with those of interfaces stabilized by the native proteins. The surface dilatational and surface shear moduli were determined using an automated drop tensiometer and a stress controlled rheometer with biconical disk geometry. Results show that interfaces stabilized by complexes of these proteins with high-methoxyl pectin have higher surface shear and dilatational moduli than interfaces stabilized by the native proteins only. The interfaces stabilized by ovalbumin and lysozyme complexes have comparable shear and dilatational moduli though ovalbumin–pectin complexes are twice as large in radius as lysozyme–pectin complexes. Under most of the experimental conditions, interfaces stabilized by fibrils have the highest surface rheological moduli. The difference between long semi-flexible lysozyme fibrils or short rigid lysozyme fibrils is not pronounced in interfacial dilation rheology but significant in interfacial shear rheology. The complex surface shear moduli of interfaces stabilized by long semi-flexible fibrils are about 10 times higher than those of interfaces stabilized by short rigid fibrils, over a range of bulk concentrations. Interfaces stabilized by short and more flexible ovalbumin fibrils have a significantly higher surface shear modulus than those stabilized by longer and more rigid lysozyme fibrils. This study has shown that the use of such supra-molecular structural building blocks creates a wider range of microstructural features of the interface, with higher surface shear and dilatational moduli and a more complex dependence on strain.

Novel surface-active oligofructose fatty acid mono-esters by enzymatic esterification

This article describes the synthesis of a series of oligofructose monoesters with fatty acids of different chain length (C8, C12, C16 and C18) to obtain food-grade surfactants with a range of amphiphilicity. Reactions were performed in a mixture of DMSO/Bu(t)OH (10/90 v/v) at 60°C and catalysed by immobilised Candida antarctica lipase B. MALDI-TOF-MS analysis showed that the crude reaction products were mixtures of unmodified oligofructose and mostly mono-esters. The conversion into mono-esters increased with the length of the fatty acid chain, reflecting the specificity of the lipase towards more lipophilic substrates. Reverse phase solid phase extraction was used to fractionate the products, which lead to sufficient purity (>93%) of the fatty acid esters for functionality testing. It was shown that derivatives of longer (C16 and C18) fatty acids were more efficient in lowering surface tension and gave a much higher dilatational modulus than derivatives of the shorter (C8 and C12) fatty acids.

Non-linear surface dilatational rheology as a tool for understanding microstructures of air/water interfaces stabilized by oligofructose fatty acid esters

In this paper, the rheological response of air/water interfaces, stabilized by various oligofructose fatty acid esters, to oscillatory dilatational deformations was studied and compared to the response of interfaces stabilized by sucrose esters. We have followed a traditional approach to surface rheology, where the development of the modulus as a function of time is studied as well as the frequency dependence of the modulus. We also adopted a different approach where we investigate in detail the amplitude dependence of the modulus. Finally, we studied the temperature dependence. We show that for an accurate characterization of the dilatational rheology of fluid–fluid interfaces with a complex microstructure, a protocol should be used that not only involves variations of surface pressure, frequency, and temperature, but also establishes amplitude dependence. We show that Lissajous plots of surface pressure versus deformation can be useful tools to help interpret surface dilatational behavior in terms of interfacial microstructure. The rheological response of interfaces stabilized by oligofructose esters differed significantly from the response of those stabilized by sucrose esters. Sucrose esters behaved like typical low molecular weight surfactants, and gave interfaces with relatively low moduli, a frequency scaling of the dilatational modulus with an exponent close to 0.5, and displayed no asymmetries in Lissajous plots. In contrast, the oligofructose esters gave, depending on the fatty acid tail, relatively high moduli, almost independent of frequency. Significant asymmetries were observed in the Lissajous plots, with strain hardening during compression and strain softening during extension. Our results suggest that the unusual rheological properties of interfaces stabilized by oligofructose esters may be the result of the formation of a two-dimensional soft glass phase by the oligofructose part of the ester.

Effect of copper ions on the drainage stability of foams prepared from egg white

In this paper we investigate the effect of copper ions on the stability of foams prepared from egg white. We compare the time of formation and stability of foams prepared from fresh egg whites, with and without added copper ions. We find that the foams prepared with copper ions take more time to form, but are more stable. The effect increases upon dilution of the egg whites, which shows that the bulk phase is not responsible for the increase in stability. Microscopy shows that the initial bubble size distribution of the foam is not affected by the addition of copper ions. Measurements with a ring trough show that the surface tension of the liquid vapor interface of the foam films is also unaffected. The results of the ring trough measurements show that the increase in drainage stability is caused mainly by an increase in the surface dilatational elasticity of the interface. There is also an increase in the surface dilatational viscosity, but only at frequencies less than 0.1 Hz. The increase in the surface dilatational elasticity affects the drainage stability of the foam during the initial seconds of the drainage process, whereas the increase in the surface dilatational viscosity affects the long-term drainage stability.