Protease-assisted process for tryptophan release from pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) seed protein extracts
Marta A. Vargas
Laboratorio de Tecnología Enzimática para Bioprocesos, Departamento de Ingeniería en Alimentos, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - original draft
Search for more papers by this authorClaudia Bernal
Laboratorio de Tecnología Enzimática para Bioprocesos, Departamento de Ingeniería en Alimentos, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
Instituto de Investigación Multidisciplinaria en Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
Contribution: Conceptualization, Resources, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Ronny Martínez
Laboratorio de Tecnología Enzimática para Bioprocesos, Departamento de Ingeniería en Alimentos, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
Correspondence
Ronny Martínez, Laboratorio de Tecnología Enzimática para Bioprocesos, Departamento de Ingeniería en Alimentos, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorMarta A. Vargas
Laboratorio de Tecnología Enzimática para Bioprocesos, Departamento de Ingeniería en Alimentos, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - original draft
Search for more papers by this authorClaudia Bernal
Laboratorio de Tecnología Enzimática para Bioprocesos, Departamento de Ingeniería en Alimentos, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
Instituto de Investigación Multidisciplinaria en Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
Contribution: Conceptualization, Resources, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Ronny Martínez
Laboratorio de Tecnología Enzimática para Bioprocesos, Departamento de Ingeniería en Alimentos, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
Correspondence
Ronny Martínez, Laboratorio de Tecnología Enzimática para Bioprocesos, Departamento de Ingeniería en Alimentos, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Squash pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) seeds are currently underused food ingredient, despite being a high tryptophan-rich protein source. In this study, we obtained and characterized a protein hydrolysate from defatted C. maxima seed meal, focusing on the effect of the used protease on tryptophan release. Protein hydrolysates were prepared using five different proteases and compared regarding the degree of hydrolysis (DH), free tryptophan content, hydrolysis kinetics, and potential antioxidant activity over reaction time. Protein hydrolysis using Flavourzyme resulted in the highest DH (35.6%), and free tryptophan concentration (337.9 mg/100 g), whereas hydrolysates obtained using Chymotrypsin showed the highest in vitro antioxidant activity (oxygen radical absorbance capacity [ORAC]) (371.1 mmol TE/100 g DM of protein extract). Our results show that protein hydrolysates from C. maxima seeds are a promising source of free tryptophan, with high antioxidant activity, supporting its potential as a food ingredient or for nutraceutical applications.
Practical application
C. maxima seeds are a promising source of free tryptophan, and its functionalization through hydrolysis showed a significant effect increasing tryptophan release and antioxidant activity, increasing its potential for ingredient or nutraceutical applications.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Data available on request from the authors.
Supporting Information
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| jfpp16290-sup-0001-TableS1.docxWord 2007 document , 14.1 KB | Table S1 |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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