Single-Conidium Encapsulation in Oil-in-Water Pickering Emulsions at High Encapsulation Yield

Liliya Kotliarevski; Karthik Ananth Mani; Reut Amar Feldbaum; Noga Yaakov; Eduard Belausov; Einat Zelinger; Dana Ment; Guy Mechrez

doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.726874

Single-Conidium Encapsulation in Oil-in-Water Pickering Emulsions at High Encapsulation Yield

Front Chem. 2021 Nov 29:9:726874. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2021.726874. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Liliya Kotliarevski^{1

2}, Karthik Ananth Mani^{1

2}, Reut Amar Feldbaum¹, Noga Yaakov¹, Eduard Belausov³, Einat Zelinger², Dana Ment⁴, Guy Mechrez¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Sciences, Institute of Postharvest and Food Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Volcani Institute, Rishon Lezion, Israel.
² Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
³ Department of Ornamental Plants and Agricultural Biotechnology, Institute of Plant Science, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Volcani Institute, Rishon Lezion, Israel.
⁴ Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, Institute of Plant Protection, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Volcani Institute, Rishon Lezion, Israel.

Abstract

This study presents an individual encapsulation of fungal conidia in an oil-in-water Pickering emulsion at a single-conidium encapsulation yield of 44%. The single-conidium encapsulation yield was characterized by analysis of confocal microscopy micrographs. Mineral oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by amine-functionalized titania dioxide (TiO₂-NH₂ or titania-NH₂) particles were prepared. The structure and the stability of the emulsions were investigated at different compositions by confocal microscopy and a LUMiSizer^® respectively. The most stable emulsions with a droplet size suitable for single-conidium encapsulation were further studied for their individual encapsulation capabilities. The yields of individual encapsulation in the emulsions; i.e., the number of conidia that were individually encapsulated out of the total number of conidia, were characterized by confocal microscopy assay. This rapid, easy to use approach to single-conidium encapsulation, which generates a significantly high yield with eco-friendly titania-based emulsions, only requires commonly used emulsification and agitation methods.

Keywords: Pickering emulsion; conidia; fungi; mineral oil; single-cell encapsulation; titania.