Polysaccharide-protein conjugates

B. Impact of Covalent Protein-Polysaccharide Conjugates on Structure and Stability of Colloidal Systems... 

Protein-polysaccharide conjugates can also act as the stabilizers of multiple emulsions. Fechner et al. (2007) reported that, under acidic conditions, conjugate-containing water-in-oil-in-water emulsions were more stable to coalescence than the corresponding emulsions made with just sodium caseinate. They also observed that the extent of vitamin B]2 release from the inner aqueous phase of the conjugate-based system was significantly lower. This result could be useful for preparing double emulsions with variable release behaviour. 

For reasons that are probably unrelated to their technical performance, these covalent protein-polysaccharide conjugates have not yet been used commercially in food systems. But it seems that it is only a matter of time before the impressive potential of these highly functional ingredients becomes exploited on a commercial scale in various food applications — not just for emulsification, but also for foaming, gelation, waterholding, and encapsulation. 

Kato, A., Sasaki, Y., Furuta, R., Kobayashi, K. (1990). Functional protein/polysaccharide conjugate prepared by controlled dry heating of ovalbumin/dextran mixtures. Agricultural cmdBiological Chemistry, 54, 107-112. 

Chen T, Embtee HD, Wu LQ, Payne GF (2002) In vitro protein-polysaccharide conjugation tyrosinase-catalyzed conjugation of gelatin and chitosan. Biopolymers 64(6) 292-302... 

Kato, A. (2002). Industrial applications of MaUlard-type protein-polysaccharide conjugates. Food Sci. Technol. Res. 8,193-199. 

Preparation and Functional Properties of Protein-Polysaccharide Conjugates... 

II. PREPARATION AND BINDING MODE OF PROTEIN-POLYSACCHARIDE CONJUGATES... 

In addition to the excellent emulsifying properties, improvements of various functional properties of Maillard-type protein-polysaccharide conjugates were reported from the viewpoint of the development of new types of food additives, medicines, and cosmetics. The examples reported so far are shown in Table 1. These are described in detail below. 

Animal dose tests and bacterial mutagenesis tests were done to confirm the safety of protein-polysaccharide conjugates [21], It has... 

Maillard reaction is known to occur in foods and biological systems (Eriksson, 1981 Waller and Feather, 1983 Fujimaki et aL, 1986 Baynes et al, 1989 Finot, 1990 Finot et al, 1990 Labuza et aL, 1994 Lee and Kim, 1996 Ikan, 1996). Recently, food browning and its prevention (Friedman, 1996) and the thermal generation of Maillard aromas (Ho, 1996) have been reviewed. Therefore, this overview, will concentrate on application aspects of the Maillard reaction relating to the generation of flavor, antioxidant properties, desmutagenic effects, protein-polysaccharide conjugates and other major reaction products. 

Different biomimetic approaches exploiting enzymatic methods using tyrosinase have been used to prepare protein-polysaccharides conjugates and to create hydrogels from biopolymers for tissue engineering application. 

Covalent protein-polysaccharide conjugates are sometimes used to avoid any flocculation and phase separation that is produced with weak non-specific protein-polysaccharide interactions. An example of such conjugates is that produced with globulin-dextran or bovine serum albumin-dextran. These conjugates produce emulsions with smaller droplets and narrower size distribution and they stabilize the emulsion against creaming and coalescence. 

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