Zéphirin Mouloungui

Genetic analysis of phytosterol content in sunflower seeds

Interest in phytosterol contents due to their potential benefits for human health has been largely documented in several crop species. Studies were focused mainly on total sterol content and their concentration or distribution in seed. This study aimed at providing new insight into the genetic control of total and individual sterol contents in sunflower seed through QTL analyses in a RIL population characterized over 2xa0years showing contrasted rainfall during seed filling. Results indicated that 13 regions on 9 linkage groups were involved in different phytosterol traits. Most of the QTL mapped were stable across years in spite of contrasted growing conditions. Some of them explained up to 30xa0% of phenotypic variation. Two QTL, located on LG10, near b1, and on LG14, were found to co-localize with QTL for oil content, indicating that likely, a part of the genetic variation for sterol content is only the result of genetic variation for oil content. However, three other QTL, stable over the 2xa0years, were found on LG1, LG4 and LG7 each associated with a particular class of sterols, suggesting that some enzymes known to be involved in the sterol metabolic pathway may determine the specificity of sterol profiles in sunflower seeds. These results suggest that it may be possible to introduce these traits as criteria in breeding programmes for quality in sunflower. The molecular markers linked to genetic factors controlling phytosterol contents could help selection during breeding programs.

Interfacial properties of oleosins and phospholipids from rapeseed for the stability of oil bodies in aqueous medium

Oleosins are plant proteins associated with phospholipids in seed oil bodies. The ability of oleosins to aid in the emulsification and stabilization of oil bodies is well known, but little information is available on their interaction with phospholipids at the interface between oil bodies and aqueous medium. Oil body reconstitution at various phospholipid/oleosin ratios was carried out to observe how rapeseed oleosins of 20kDa and rapeseed phospholipids affect oil body stability. Phospholipids are needed to stabilize oil droplets, but oleosins are mandatory to avoid coalescence. We thus characterized how phospholipids affect the interfacial properties of oleosins at pHs 5.5 and 8.5, by analyzing the adsorption kinetics and interfacial dilational rheology. We observed a synergic effect between oleosins and phospholipids in increasing surface pressure at both pHs. This kind of effect was also observed for the dilational modulus at pH 5.5. A thermodynamic approach highlights these synergic interactions between oleosins and phospholipids through a positive deviation from ideality.

Glycerol and glycerol carbonate as ultraviscous solvents for mixture analysis by NMR.

NMR of weakly polar analytes in an apolar ultraviscous solvent has recently been proposed for mixture analysis as a pertinent alternative to the DOSY experiment. The present article reports the first use of glycerol and glycerol carbonate as polar solvents for the NMR analysis of a model mixture of dipeptides. This work demonstrates the high potentiality of these solvents for the analysis of mixtures made of polar and potentially bioactive compounds. Medium-sized molecules slowly reorient in glycerol and glycerol carbonate under particular temperature conditions, so that solute resonances may show spin diffusion in NOESY spectra, thus opening the way to mixture analysis. Glycerol and glycerol carbonate have turned out to be ultraviscous solvents of choice for the individualization of four structurally close mixed dipeptides: Leu-Val, Leu-Tyr, Gly-Tyr and Ala-Tyr by means of 1D and 2D NOESY experiments. Selective sample excitation and signal detection were implemented to eliminate the intense proton signals of the non-deuterated solvents. Moreover, the recording of a multiplet selective 2D NOESY-TOCSY has shown that the analytical power of NMR in highly viscous solvents is not limited to the extraction of mixture component 1D subspectra but may also yield some supplementary information about atom connectivity within components.

Effect of trans fatty acid isomers from ruminant sources on risk factors of cardiovascular disease: Study design and rationale

Substantial evidence clearly demonstrates the deleterious effects of industrially-produced trans fatty acids (TFA); however, data are lacking from large, well controlled human feeding studies that directly compare the effects of industrially-produced and naturally-occurring TFA. The purpose of the current study is to determine whether consumption of TFA derived from different sources differentially affect risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The study was a randomized, crossover design, controlled-feeding intervention designed to compare the effects of the following diet treatments on risk factors of CVD: low TFA diet (base diet, 34% energy from fat; 0.1% energy from TFA), base diet with vaccenic acid (3.0% energy), base diet with mixed isomers of TFA from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (3.0% energy), and base diet with cis-9, trans-11 CLA (1.0% energy). The added energy from TFA replaced energy from stearic acid. Participants were required to be between the ages of 25 and 65 years, have a body mass index between 20 and 38 kg/m(2), total cholesterol <280 mg/dl, fasting triacylglycerol <300 mg/dl, fasting glucose <126 mg/dl, and blood pressure <160/100 mm Hg (controlled with certain medications). Of the 116 participants who were randomized, a total of 95 completed the intervention. Results from this study will be important in determining whether ruminant TFA and industrially produced TFA differentially affect markers of cardiovascular risk, in the context of a highly controlled feeding study.

Effect of Cooking on Moisture Sorption Isotherms of Sheanut (Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn.) Kernels: Evidence from Light and Scanning Electron Microscopy

The standard static gravimetric method was used to determine moisture sorption isotherms of both raw and cooked sheanut kernels at 40, 50 and 60xa0°C in the water activity range 0.11–0.96 in order to evaluate the influence of cooking on the moisture sorption capacity of the kernels. Preliminary analysis showed that the kernels lost a significant quantity of its proteins and carbohydrate during the cooking process. Results of analysis of the moisture sorption isotherms revealed that cooked kernels generally had significantly (pu2009<u20090.05) lower equilibrium moisture contents (EMC) than the raw ones for both desorption and adsorption processes. The effect of temperature on the sorption processes as portrayed by the desorption isotherms revealed that EMC decreased steadily with increase in temperature within the water activity range 0.10–0.8 aw but increased rapidly with increase in temperature above 0.8 aw resulting in the overlap of isotherms for all sorption processes. This crossing over of isotherms was attributed to the dissolution of sugars at higher water activities. The protein matrix in the kernel was observed using light microscopy and was found to have been disorientated after cooking. Studies using light and scanning electron microscopy revealed that the reduced ability of cooked kernels to sorb water could be linked to changes in the structure of the kernels brought about by the cooking of the kernels. It is concluded that cooking had a very significant effect on the amount of water sorbed by sheanut kernels.

Esters of oligo-(glycerol carbonate-glycerol): New biobased oligomeric surfactants

Glycerol carbonate is one of the most potentially multifunction glycerol-derived compounds. Glycerol is an important by-product of the oleochemical industry. The oligomerization of glycerol carbonate, assisted by the glycerol, results in the production of polyhydroxylated oligomers rich in linear carbonate groups. The polar moieties of these oligomers (Mw<1000Da) were supplied by glycerol and glycerol carbonate rather than ethylene oxide as in most commercial surfactants. The insertion of linear carbonate groups into the glycerol-based skeleton rendered the oligomers amphiphilic, resulting in a decrease in air/water surface tension to 57mN/m. We improved the physical and chemical properties of the oligomers, by altering the type of acylation reaction and the nature of the acyl donor. The polar head is constituted of homo-oligomers and hetero-oligomers. Homo-oligomers are oligoglycerol and/or oligocarbonate, hetero-oligomers are oligo(glycerol-glycerol carbonate). Coprah oligoesters had the best surfactant properties (CMC<1mg/mL, πcmc<30mN/m), outperforming molecules of fossil origin, such as ethylene glycol monododecyl ether, glycol ethers and fatty acid esters of sorbitan polyethoxylates. The self-assembling properties of oligocarbonate esters were highlighted by their ability to stabilize inverse and multiple emulsions. The oligo-(glycerol carbonate-glycerol ether) with relatively low molecular weights showed properties of relatively high-molecular weight molecules, and constitute a viable green alternative to ethoxylated surfactants.

Effect of Cooking on Moisture Sorption Isotherms of Shea Nut (Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn.) Kernels Part II: Modelling and Properties of Sorbed Water

An investigation was undertaken in this work to model the sorption isotherms of cooked and raw shea nut kernels determined by the standard static gravimetric method. The GAB, Halsey and Caurie models were validated and used in describing the sorption behaviour of the kernels. The monolayer moisture contents derived from Caurie’s equation for the desorption of cooked and raw kernels at 40, 50 and 60xa0°C were 5.49, 4.40 and 2.65xa0% and 5.22, 3.68 and 2.47xa0%, respectively. Monolayer moisture contents obtained from the GAB model showed a similar variation. As the temperature of sorption increased from 40 to 60xa0°C, the number of adsorbed monolayers (N), the surface area of adsorbent (A) and the percent bound water decreased significantly (pu2009<u20090.05). It is suggested that the sorption process at all temperatures is multilayered. Desorption isosteric heats were lower for cooked kernels than the raw ones, while the reverse phenomenon was obtained for the adsorption process. It was established that, during storage, cooked kernels adsorbed moisture more slowly, suggesting that they could be stored for a longer period compared to the raw ones.

Adsorption Characteristics of Bixin on Acid- and Alkali-Treated Kaolinite in Aprotic Solvents

The adsorption of bixin in aprotic solvents onto acid- and alkali-treated kaolinite was investigated. Kaolinite was treated three times, for 6u2009h each, with 8u2009M HCl or 5u2009M KOH. The adsorbents were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, EDS, and BET-N2. The effects of contact time and dye concentration on adsorption capacity and kinetics, electronic transition of bixin before and after adsorption, and also mechanism of bixin-kaolinite adsorption were investigated. Dye adsorption followed pseudo-second order kinetics and was faster in acetone than in dimethyl carbonate. The best adsorption results were obtained for KOH-treated kaolinite. In both of the solvents, the adsorption isotherm followed the Langmuir model and adsorption capacity was higher in dimethyl carbonate (q mu2009=u20090.43u2009mg/g) than in acetone (0.29u2009mg/g). The adsorption capacity and kinetics of KOH-treated kaolinite (q mu2009=u20090.43u2009mg/g, k 2u2009=u20093.27u2009g/mg·min) were better than those of HCl-treated kaolinite (q mu2009=u20090.21u2009mg/g, k 2u2009=u20090.25u2009g/mg·min) and natural kaolinite (q mu2009=u20090.18u2009mg/g, k 2u2009=u20090.32u2009g/mg·min). There are shift in the band position of maximum intensity of bixin after adsorption on this adsorbent. Adsorption in this system seemed to be based essentially on chemisorption due to the electrostatic interaction of bixin with the strong basic and reducing sites of kaolinite.

Recovery of slaughterhouse Animal Fatty Wastewater Sludge by conversion into Fatty Acid Butyl Esters by acid-catalyzed esterification

Two types of Animal Fatty Wastewater Sludges (AFWS 1 and 2) were analyzed and fully characterized to determine their suitability for conversion into biofuel. AFWS 1 was determined to be unsuitable as it contains 68.8wt.% water and only 32.3wt.% dry material, of which only around 80% is lipids to be converted. AFWS 2 has only 15.7wt.% water and 84.3wt.% dry material of which is assumed to 100% lipids as the protein and ash contents were determined to be negligible. The 4-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) catalyzed esterification of AFWS with 1-butanol was performed in a novel batch reactor fitted with a drying chimney for the in situ removal of water and optimized using a non-conventional Doehlert surface response methodology. The optimized condition was found to be 1.66mol equivalent of 1-butanol (with respect to total fatty acid chains), 10wt.% of DBSA catalyst (with respect to AFWS) at 105°C for 3h. Fatty Acid Butyl Esters (FABEs) were isolated in good yields (95%+) as well as a blend of FABEs with 1-butanol (16%). The two potential biofuels were analyzed in comparison with current and analogous biofuels (FAME based biodiesel, and FABE products made from vegetable oils) and were found to exhibit high cetane numbers and flash point values.

Aprotic solvents effect on the UV-visible absorption spectra of bixin.

We describe here the effects of aprotic solvents on the spectroscopic characteristics of bixin. Bixin was dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide, acetone, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, chloroform, dimethyl carbonate, cyclohexane and hexane, separately, and its spectra in the resulting solutions were determined by UV-visible spectrophotometry at normal pressure and room temperature. We analyzed the effect of aprotic solvents on λmax according to Onsager cavity model and Hansen theory, and determined the approximate absorption coefficient with the Beer-Lambert law. We found that the UV-visible absorption spectra of bixin were found to be solvent dependent. The S0→S2 transition energy of bixin in solution was dependent principally on the refractive index of the solvents and the bixin-solvent dispersion interaction. There was a small influence of the solvents dielectric constant, permanent dipole interaction and hydrogen bonding occurred between bixin and solvents. The absorbance of bixin in various solvents, with the exception of hexane, increased linearly with concentration.