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Protein glycosylation is a ubiquitous posttranslational modification that modulates protein properties, thereby influencing bioactivities within a system. Duck egg white (DEW) proteins exhibit diverse biological properties compared with their chicken egg white (CEW) counterparts, which might be related to glycosylation. N-Glycoproteome analysis of DEW was conducted, and a total of 231 N-glycosites from 68 N-glycoproteins were identified. Gene ontology analysis was used to elucidate the biofunctions of DEW N-glycoproteins and compare them with those of CEW, which showed that the differences mostly involved molecular functions and biological processes. The biological functions of DEW N-glycoproteins were illuminated through bioinformatics analysis and comparison with CEW orthologues, which showed different allergenicities and antibacterial abilities. These divergences might be initiated by specific alterations in glycosylation, which can enhance the proteolysis resistance and protein steric hindrance. These results provide new insights for discovering the effects of N-glycosylation on biofunctions during the divergence of homologous proteins.

Using combined analytical techniques, this work discloses how citric acid (CA) treatment affects the pasting features of starch from a view of multi-scale structural evolutions. The treatment induced disruption events in starch multi-level structures and thus modulated the pasting behaviors. A structure-property relationship was proposed to rationalize CA effects on starch pasting properties. Specifically, CA disrupted starch structures from molecular scale to micron scale, eventually reducing pasting temperature and paste viscosities. Interestingly, unlike previous findings that acid hydrolysis normally reduces the breakdown viscosity, the CA here resulted in regulated breakdown viscosity (paste stability under shearing and heating) related to concurrent effects from granule surface corrosion and molecule degradation. Moreover, the molecule degradation of starch weakened its chain rearrangement tendency, allowing increased paste stability during cooling. Also, simply altering CA concentration effectively regulated starch structural and pasting features. Hence, compared to untreated counterpart, the CA-treated starch may serve as food agents with reduced paste viscosity, regulated paste stability under heating and increased paste stability during cooling.

Northern snakehead (Channa argus) is very popular freshwater fish in China and is expected to become a new surimi material with therapeutic efficacy. The Angelica sinensis powder is a type of famous Chinese medicine that helps to regulate metabolism and enhance the immune function. Therefore, an upmarket medicated surimi product with hygienic qualities was designed to adapt to the stressful current lifestyle using snakehead and Angelica sinensis powder. The texture, whiteness, rheological properties, and sensory properties were studied to further optimize the dosage of the Angelica sinensis powder used in the surimi processing. The results indicated that the maximum breaking force and breaking distance were obtained at a concentration of 4 g/kg, and the whiteness value and driage were significantly decreased with the increase of the amount of the Angelica sinensis powder. Ultimately, the highest total sensory evaluation score was obtained for samples with the addition of 2 g/kg Angelica sinensis p...

Food frauds related to the mislabeling and mixing of products of inferior quality with those of superior quality are a serious concern nowadays. NMR-based metabolomics has great potential in the authentication of foods for quality assurance and the tracing of fraudulent labeling. The present study was conducted to discriminate rice from geographically different provinces of China. The study reports the potential use of 1H NMR spectroscopy coupled with PCA and a discriminant analysis method, LDA for metabolomic fingerprinting of Chinese rice. A total of 106 rice samples from nine different provinces of China were analyzed for 1H NMR-based metabolomics. Both the whole variable analysis (heat map) and the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed a clear separation among the samples. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) was conducted to extract the variables majorly responsible for this separation, such as sucrose, fructose, glucose, succinate, polyphenols, trigonelline and asparagine. The discrimination was explained on the basis of variations in latitude, temperature and rainfall in these provinces. The study highlights the application of 1H NMR for geographical discrimination of rice and its usefulness for consumers while choosing their desired variety of rice.

Avian egg yolk provides essential nutrients and physiological support for the developing embryo. To reveal the dynamics of yolk proteins during the entire period of incubation, we analyzed the alterations of egg yolk plasma proteins at different times during incubation (day 0, 7, 14, and 18). Day 14 (D14) of incubation was considered as the key point on the alteration of egg yolk proteins according to the SDS-PAGE analysis. The two-dimensional electrophoresis-based comparative proteomic analysis was conducted, and 26 spots representing 13 proteins were detected with significant changes in abundance. An accelerating transfer of ovalbumin from egg white into egg yolk was observed at D14 in fertilized eggs but not detected in unfertilized eggs, indicating an unrevealed absorbing pathway for the egg proteins/peptides particularly in fertilized eggs. Meanwhile, the abundance of yolk riboflavin-binding protein constantly decreased after D14, which might meet the need for essential riboflavin during embryo development. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: These findings provide fundamental insight into the effects of incubation on egg yolk plasma protein alterations during the entire embryonic development for a better understanding of plasma protein biological functions, especially in nutrient transportations and the formation of embryonic organs.

In this study detoxification of 3 Chinese Cd-contaminated cultivars (Jinyou463, Yuchi, and Xiangzaoxian 32) of rice was explored. By separation with an alkaline method, Cd concentrations of the starch isolates were decreased from 0.2769, 0.4037, and 0.5156 mg/kg in starting milled rice to 0.1056, 0.1585, and 0.1923 mg/kg, respectively. However, the Cd concentrations reached up to 2.5905, 3.1628, and 4.8593 mg/kg in the protein isolates, respectively. Therefore, 10 common acids in food industry were investigated to remove Cd from protein isolate by washing process. The optimal washing conditions were 0.5 M citric acid, acid to rice protein isolate ratio of 6:1 v/w, shaking time of 1 h at room temperature. The rice protein isolate showed a significant decrease in Cd concentration and the removal efficiency was more than 95% after 2 washings at optimized conditions. Rice proteins were not degraded at all and had very little loss during citric acid washing process. The study presents a promising way of depurating Cd-contaminated rice, and meanwhile it reduces the risk of heavy metal causing food safety issues effectively. Practical Applications Each year, some rice grains containing excess Cd content are being produced in China. It is highly desirable to develop the decontamination methods for Cd-contaminated rice. By separating the protein isolate, Cd contents of the resultant starch isolates were 40% less than starting milled rice, and more than 95% of Cd in the rice protein isolates was removed after 2 washings with citric acid. This study suggests that starch and protein products of Chinese Cd-contaminated rice processed with this method can achieve the Chinese standard limit of 0.2 mg/kg.

The Chinese yakow is the offspring of yak (Bos grunniens) and Yellow cattle (Bos taurus). The melanocortin 1receptor gene (MC1R) plays a crucial role in determining coat colour of mammals. To investigate the relationship of polymorphism of the MC1R with coat colour in the Chinese yakow, the coding sequence (CDS) and the flanking region of MC1R were sequenced from 84 Chinese yakow samples and compared with the sequences of the MC1R from other bovid species. A fragment of 1134 base pair (bp) sequences including the full CDS (954bp) and parts of the 5'- and 3'-untranslated regions (162 and 18bp, respectively) of the Chineseyakow MC1R were obtained. A total of 13 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) including 4 SNPs (T-129C, A-127C, C-106T, G-1A) in the 5'-untranslated region and 9 SNPs (C201T, T206C, C340A, C375T, T663C, G714C, C870T, G871A and T890C) in the CDS were identified, revealing high genetic variability. Four novel SNPs including T206C, G714C, C870T and T890C, which have not been reported previously in bovid species, were retrieved. Within 9 coding SNPs, C201T, C375T, T663C and C870T were silent mutations, while T206C, C340A, G714C, G871A and T890C were mis-sense mutations, corresponding to amino acid changes p.L69P, p.Q114K, p.K238N, p.A291N and p.I297T, respectively. Amino acid sequences alignment showed a more than 96% similarity with other ruminates. However, three classical bovine MC1R loci the E(D), E(+) and e were not retrieved in the Chinese yakow, indicating other genes or factors could be involved in affecting coat colour in this species.

In this study detoxification of 3 Chinese Cd-contaminated cultivars (Jinyou463, Yuchi, and Xiangzaoxian 32) of rice was explored. By separation with an alkaline method, Cd concentrations of the starch isolates were decreased from 0.2769, 0.4037, and 0.5156 mg/kg in starting milled rice to 0.1056, 0.1585, and 0.1923 mg/kg, respectively. However, the Cd concentrations reached up to 2.5905, 3.1628, and 4.8593 mg/kg in the protein isolates, respectively. Therefore, 10 common acids in food industry were investigated to remove Cd from protein isolate by washing process. The optimal washing conditions were 0.5 M citric acid, acid to rice protein isolate ratio of 6:1 v/w, shaking time of 1 h at room temperature. The rice protein isolate showed a significant decrease in Cd concentration and the removal efficiency was more than 95% after 2 washings at optimized conditions. Rice proteins were not degraded at all and had very little loss during citric acid washing process. The study presents a promising way of depurating Cd-contaminated rice, and meanwhile it reduces the risk of heavy metal causing food safety issues effectively.

The cationic starch flocculants were synthesized by the reaction of maize starch which was activated by a ball-milling treatment with 2,3-epoxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chlorides (ETMAC) using the dry method. The cationic starches were characterized by several approaches including scanning electron microscope (SEM), degree of substitution (DS), infrared spectrum (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), flocculating activity, electron spin resonance (ESR), and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The effect of mechanical activation on starch etherifying modification was investigated. The mechanical activation cracked starch granules and destructed their crystal structures. This resulted in enhancements to the reaction activity and reaction efficiency, which was approved by ESR and solid state NMR. The starch flocculants, synthesized by the reaction of mechanically activated starches at 90°C for 2.5h with ETMAC at molar ratio of 0.40:1.00, showed good flocculation activity. The substitution degree (0.300) and reaction efficiency (75.06%) of starch flocculants synthesized with mechanically activated starches were significantly greater than those of starch flocculants with native starches (P

The melanocortin 1 receptor gene (MC1R) plays a crucial role in determining coat colour of mammals. To investigate the relationship of polymorphism of the MC1R with coat colour in gayal, the coding sequence (CDS), and the 5′- and 3′-untranslated regions (UTR) of the MC1R were sequenced from 63 samples from the gayal and compared with the sequences of the MC1R from other ruminant species. A sequence of 1,136 bp including the whole CDS (954 bp) and parts of the 5′- and 3′-UTR (164 and 18 bp, respectively) of the gayal MC1R was obtained. A total of nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) including four SNPs (c.−129T>C, c.−127A>C, c.−106C>T, c.−1G>A) in the 5′-UTR and five SNPs (c.201C>T, c.583C>T, c.663T>C, c.871A>G and c.876T>C) in the CDS were detected, revealing high genetic diversity. Three novel coding SNPs including c.201C>T, c.583C>T and c.876T>C, which have not been reported previously in bovid species, were retrieved. Within five coding SNPs, c.201C>T, c.663T>C and c.876T>C were silent mutations, while c.583C>T and c.871A>G were mis-sense mutations, resulting in changes in the amino acids located in the fifth (p.L195F) and seventh (p.T291A) transmembrane regions, respectively. The alignment of amino acid sequences was found to be very similar to those for other bovid species. It was demonstrated, using the functional effect prediction, that the p.T291A amino acid replacement could have an effect on MC1R protein function but not for the p.L195F substitution. Using phylogenetic analyses it was revealed that the gayal has a close genetic relationship with the yak. However, three classical bovine MC1R loci the E D , E + and e were not retrieved in the gayal, indicating other genes or factors could affect coat colour in this species.