International Journal of Biological Macromolecules最新文献

In this study, zein was hydrolyzed by alcalase and conjugated to oligochitosan under transglutaminase (TGase) catalysis to construct novel self-assembly complex for the delivery of curcumin. The effects of enzyme hydrolysis and TGase-type glycosylation of zein/curcumin on the stability, bioavailability, and antioxidant properties were evaluated. The obtained glycosylated zein hydrolysate had a uniform distribution and small particle sizes. Structural analysis revealed that the primary forces within the curcumin-loaded glycosylated zein hydrolysate complex were electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophobic interactions. The prepared complex demonstrated excellent encapsulation efficiency for curcumin (82.19 %). Oligochitosan formed a protective layer around zein hydrolysate/curcumin complex through covalent binding, effectively resisting the degradation caused by gastric enzymes. This significantly increased the retention rate during the undigested stage and facilitated the release of curcumin in the intestine, thereby enhancing the bioavailability. This study offers new insights into using hydrolysis combined with TGase-type glycosylation of protein as a delivery system to protect hydrophobic nutrients.

A bio-fabrication approach is a novel way to develop chitosan-stabilized magnesium oxide nanomaterials (cMgO-NMs). The process involves utilizing polymeric chitosan as the reducing and stabilizing agent. The characteristics of the developed cMgO-NMs were determined using various spectroscopical techniques. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis revealed crucial functional groups, Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) spectrum showed nanomaterial development with a peak at 358 nm, and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) pattern confirmed a pure cubic crystalline structure. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images depicted spherical shape, while energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) confirmed Mg presence. The photocatalytic efficacy of these nanomaterials in degrading dye methylene blue (MB) was examined, and the findings demonstrated the remarkable proficiency of cMgO-NMs in breaking down the dye. The cytotoxic effects of cMgO-NMs were assessed for the first time on PCI-9A and PCI-13 cancer cell lines, yielding an IC₅₀ value of 51 μg/mL and 42 μg/mL. The cMgO-NMs treated PCI-9A and PCI-13 cancer cells morphological changes were observed via acridine orange and ethidium bromide and DAPI staining assay, and apoptotic mode of cell death was examined through flow cytometry and comet assay. Polymeric chitosan proved effective in extensive cMgO-NMs production, showing potential as an anticancer drug, although requiring further preclinical development.

Zophobas morio protein (ZMP) is a promising protein resource with notable biological properties, and its hydrolysis could unlock enhanced bioactivities. This study investigated ultrasound-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis (UAEH) of ZMP using different enzymes (Alcalase, Neutrase, and Protamex) to determine its effect on the degree of hydrolysis (DH) compared to enzymatic hydrolysis (EH). UAEH showed greater hydrolysis efficiency than EH, with Alcalase exhibiting the highest DH. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize UAEH conditions for Zophobas morio protein hydrolysate (ZMPH). Optimal conditions for producing ZMPH with the maximum DH were a substrate concentration of 3.52 % (w/v), enzyme to substrate ratio of 7.64 % (v/v), and pH of 8.35. Under the optimal condition, the maximum DH was 25.03 %. In addition, significant structural changes in the optimized ZMPH compared to ZMP were identified, showing decreased α-helix and β-sheet content, with increased β-turn and unordered coil. Moreover, the optimized ZMPH demonstrated significantly improved ABTS antioxidant activity and attenuated H₂O₂-induced cell death in RAW264.7 cells compared to ZMP, which was attributed to better mitigation of ROS production. These findings provide an effective enzymatic hydrolysis method for producing ZMPH with significant antioxidant activity, demonstrating the potential of ultrasound-assisted hydrolysis in enhancing the bioactivity of insect proteins.

The management of diabetic wounds has become an important task for the public health system. Hydrogels are highly anticipated as modern wound dressings for the treatment of diabetic wounds, hence we have prepared a MOK-Gel using methacrylated oxidized konjac glucomannan (MOK) crosslinked with acrylamide (AM). On this basis, we have incorporated drugs such as UiO-66 loaded with sodium ferulate (SF) and deferoxamine (DFO) to develop the hydrogel wound dressing DUS@MOK-Gel (a hydrogel composed of methacrylated oxidized konjac glucomannan, loaded with DFO and UiO-66 loaded with sodium ferulate). It not only has excellent physical properties, including swelling capacity, moisture retention, and water vapor permeability; but also possesses bioactivity functions such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, macrophage polarization regulation, promotion of anti-inflammatory factor release, and angiogenesis to accelerate the healing of diabetic wounds. Therefore, DUS@MOK-Gel has great development prospects and market value in the field of diabetic wound treatment.

Whey protein hydrolysate (WPH) can be used to develop hypoallergenic foods. However, the stabilization mechanism of WPH-stabilized emulsion is not fully understood. Here, a real-time quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) was used in conjunction with a rheometer to investigate the interfacial properties of WPH. Initially, the properties of WPH with different (6 %, 8 %, 10 %, 12 % and 14 %) degree of hydrolysis (DH) were investigated. 8 %-WPH demonstrated superior emulsifying (11.49 m²/g, 81.34 min) and foaming properties (14.00 %, 7.78 %). Subsequently, the stability of different WPH-stabilized emulsions were examined. 8 %-WPH emulsion exhibited the lowest centrifugal precipitation rate (4.50 %) and Turbiscan stability index (2.24). Additionally, the 8 %-WPH promoted the adsorption and retention of molecules at the interface, which effectively reduced the interfacial tension. QCM-D measurement further proved that the 8 %-WPH possessed excellent adsorption mass and viscoelasticity. Finally, we characterized the interface-adsorbed WPH. The 8 %-WPH exhibited the highest surface hydrophobicity (1072.60) and flexibility (0.22). Notably, the 8 %-WPH showed the highest β-sheet (41.11 %). This led to stronger interactions between neighboring interfacial WPH molecules, which protected the emulsion droplets from destabilizing factors. Nevertheless, excessive hydrolysis (10 %-14 %) caused WPH molecules aggregation, which consequently diminished the viscoelasticity of the interfacial film and the emulsion stability.

The pretreatment with green deep eutectic solvents (DESs) is conducive to realizing the high-efficiency utilization of lignin at a low cost. In this study, an innovative choline chloride/urea/calcium hydroxide (ChCl/UR/Ca(OH)₂) DES containing a reversibly-soluble base Ca(OH)₂ was developed for the pretreatment of enzymatic hydrolysis lignin (EHL). The lignin pretreatment effects of the proposed ChCl/UR/Ca(OH)₂ DES were compare with a series of DESs. The results indicated that ChCl/UR/20 % Ca(OH)₂ with a reversibly-soluble base addition of 20 % was permitted to achieve the optimal recovery yield of 81.067 % under mild conditions (80 °C, 7 h). The physical and chemical structure, molecular weight, thermal stability, content of phenolic hydroxyl and carboxyl groups, and recycling performance of DES were compared between ChCl/UR-L and ChCl/UR/20 % Ca(OH)₂-L. The results showed that ChCl/UR/20 % Ca(OH)₂-L retained the lignin skeleton structure and possessed preferable thermal stability and antioxidant activity, which was mainly attributed to the homogeneous molecular structure and abundant phenolic hydroxyl group contents. ChCl/UR/20 % Ca(OH)₂ was more advantageous for recycling, maintaining a lignin recovery yield of 57.400 % after 5 cycles, which was higher than that of most acidic and neutral DESs for regenerating lignin. This work provides a valuable reference on the valorization of lignin by using renewable DES.

This study explores the innovative combined effects of alkaline isolation with ultrasound pretreatment on the physicochemical properties of acorn (Quercus brantii) starch. The optimal pH for maximizing the yield of alkaline-isolated acorn starch (AAS) was determined, followed by comparison with alkaline-isolated defatted acorn starch (ADAS), ultrasound-pretreated acorn starch (UAS), and ultrasound-pretreated defatted acorn starch (UDAS). The results demonstrated substantial improvements in yield and purity, with the highest yield (68.97 ± 0.16 %) achieved at pH 9. ADAS showed high purity, with protein and fat contents of 1.82 ± 0.07 % and 0.025 ± 0.02 %, respectively. UDAS exhibited superior swelling power, solubility, and turbidity, indicating enhanced functional properties. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) revealed variations in granule sizes across treatments, from 12.42 μm (ADAS) to 10.72 μm (UDAS). X-ray diffraction analysis showed C-type patterns with crystallinity ranging from 31.25 % (ADAS) to 26 % (UAS). Thermal analysis demonstrated UDAS had the highest peak viscosity and lowest thermal parameters. Texture analysis indicated that AAS formed a softer gel, while ADAS displayed greater hardness and gumminess. These findings highlight the effectiveness of combining alkaline isolation with ultrasound pretreatment to improve acorn starch quality for sustainable applications in food and biotechnology.

This study introduces the development of a highly sensitive label-free electrochemical immunosensor specifically designed to detect prostate-specific antigen (PSA). A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) coated with Au nanoparticles/polyhedral hollow CoCu bimetallic sulfide (CuCo₂S₄) was employed as a sensing interface for the fixation of the monoclonal anti-PSA antibody. The nanoarchitectures enhanced the capacity for loading prostate-specific antibodies (Ab) and effectually boosted electrical conductivity leading to enhance the electrochemical signal and greater sensitivity for the detection of PSA. The electrochemical behavior of the engineered sensor was researched via cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The response of the fabricated immunosensor manifested a linearized correlation with PSA concentration, spanning from 50.0 fg/ml to 500.0 ng/ml, with a minimal detection limit (DPV: 19.0 fg/ml, EIS: 14.0 fg/ml) and superior stability. The morphological and structural features of the engineered nanomaterials were analyzed using a range of techniques, including field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The proposed immunosensor was utilized for the meticulous and ultra-sensitive analysis of PSA levels in serum specimens, providing results that align satisfactorily with those from the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) the benchmark protocol. In conclusion, these outcomes underscore the potential utility of the developed immunosensor for prostate cancer screening in its initial stages.

It is crucial to understand the transcription mechanisms of miRNAs, especially considering the presence of peptides encoded by miRNAs. Since promoters function as the switch for gene transcription, precisely identifying these regions is essential for fully annotating miRNA transcripts. Nonetheless, existing computational methods still have room for improvement in the characterization of promoter regions. Here, we present PmiProPred, an advanced tool designed for predicting plant miRNA promoters from a wide spectrum of genomes. It consists of two core components: multi-stream deep feature extraction (MsDFE) and multi-stream deep feature refinement (MsDFR). The MsDFE utilizes Transformer and CNN to gather multi-view features, while the MsDFR focuses on aligning and refining them using channel and spatial attention mechanisms. Ultimately, a multi-layer perceptron is employed to accomplish the miRNA promoter identification task. Across three independent testing datasets, PmiProPred achieves accuracies of 94.630%, 96.659%, and 92.480%, respectively, substantially surpassing the latest methods. Additionally, PmiProPred is employed to identify potential core promoters in the upstream 2-kb regions of intergenic miRNAs in five plant species. We further conduct cis-regulatory elements mining on the predicted promoters and perform an in-depth analysis of the identified motifs. Altogether, PmiProPred is a robust and effective tool for discovering plant miRNA promoters.

Mauritia flexuosa (Buriti) vegetable oil (OV) has attracted technological interest in various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, food, and beverages, because of its excellent antioxidant activity. The active OV components are fatty compounds, and stability is required for proper application. In this work, we investigated OV-in-water Pickering emulsions stabilized by cellulose nanofibrils (CNF). CNF is sustainable, economically viable, and environmentally friendly, and it is suitable for developing products in an eco-friendly way. The factorial design of experiments (DoE) indicates that the amount of CNF and the homogenization time significantly affect the emulsion, preventing coalescence over 30 days. Fourier-transform Raman spectroscopy (FT-Raman) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) show that CNF stabilizes the OV droplets through induced dipole-dipole interactions and hydrogen bonds. Rheological analysis was relevant to the relationship between internal microstructure strength and viscous flow behavior of the emulsions. A novel approach enabled the identification of the CNF stabilization mechanism in the emulsion system via fluorescence microscopy. Diameter distribution measurements and steady-state rheological tests indicate that the emulsions have good stability at room temperature and suitable steady-state viscosity for food applications and beverage products as they show pronounced shear thinning behavior for cream and lotion skin care products.