Characterization of coacervation behavior between whey protein isolate and gum Arabic: Effects of heat treatment

Xiaoshan Wan; Meihui Zhao; Mengxue Guo; Peng Li; Haohao Shi; Xueying Zhang; Zhongyuan Liu; Guanghua Xia

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100703

Characterization of coacervation behavior between whey protein isolate and gum Arabic: Effects of heat treatment

Food Chem X. 2023 May 4:18:100703. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100703. eCollection 2023 Jun 30.

Authors

Xiaoshan Wan¹, Meihui Zhao¹, Mengxue Guo¹, Peng Li¹, Haohao Shi¹, Xueying Zhang¹, Zhongyuan Liu¹, Guanghua Xia^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Hainan Engineering Research Center of Aquatic Resources Efficient Utilization in South China Sea, Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Functional Food of Hainan Province, Key Laboratory of Seafood Processing of Haikou, Engineering Research Center of Utilization of Tropical Polysaccharide Resources of MOE, College of Food Science and Technology, Hainan University, Hainan 570228, China.
² Collaborative Innovation Center of Provincial and Ministerial Co-Construction for Marine Food Deep Processing, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China.

Abstract

Currently, the effect of heat treatment on the complex coacervation behavior of whey isolate protein (WPI) with gum arabic (GA) is undiscussed. In this work, the complex coacervation behavior of WPI with or without heat treatment and GA in different environments was investigated. The results showed that coacervates were formed at a mass ratio of 2:1 and a pH of 3.5, which was confirmed by the fluorescence spectroscopy results. Heat treatment increased the surface charge of WPI, reduced the saturated adsorption concentration of GA, and enhanced the sensitivity of the complex coacervation reaction to salt ions. Fourier infrared spectroscopy, intermolecular force analysis and molecular docking results confirm that the formation of coacervates is the result of electrostatic interactions. From the scanning electron microscope and differential scanning calorimetry results, it is clear that the whey isolate protein combined with gum arabic forms a gel-like conjugate with higher thermal stability and a dense structure. This study provides more in-depth theoretical guidance for the application of WPI and GA based coacervation and more advanced theoretical data for the study of hWPI.

Keywords: Arabic gum; Coacervation; Non-covalent complex; Whey protein isolate.