Artificial oil body as a potential oral administration system in zebrafish

Unveiling the applications of membrane proteins from oil bodies: leading the way in artificial oil body technology and other biotechnological advancements

Oil bodies (OBs) function as organelles that store lipids in plant seeds. An oil body (OB) is encased by a membrane composed of proteins (e.g., oleosins, caleosins, and steroleosins) and a phospholipid monolayer. The distinctive protein-phospholipid membrane architecture of OBs imparts exceptional stability even in extreme environments, thereby sparking increasing interest in their structure and properties. However, a comprehensive understanding of the structure-activity relationships determining the stability and properties of oil bodies requires a more profound exploration of the associated membrane proteins, an aspect that remains relatively unexplored. In this review, we aim to summarize and discuss the structural attributes, biological functions, and properties of OB membrane proteins. From a commercial perspective, an in-depth understanding of the structural and functional properties of OBs is important for the expansion of their applications by producing artificial oil bodies (AOB). Besides exploring their structural intricacies, we describe various methods that are used for purifying and isolating OB membrane proteins. These insights may provide a foundational framework for the practical utilization of OB membrane proteins in diverse applications within the realm of AOB technology, including biological and probiotic delivery, protein purification, enzyme immobilization, astringency detection, and antibody production.

Artificial oil bodies: A review on composition, properties, biotechnological applications, and improvement methods

In order to simulate the structure of natural oil body, artificial oil bodies (AOBs) are fabricated by the integration of oleosins, triacylglycerols (TAGs) and phospholipids (PLs) in vitro. Recently, AOBs have gained great research interest both in the food and biological fields due to its ability to act as a novel delivery system for bioactive compounds and as a carrier for target proteins. This review aims to summarize the composition and the preparation methods of AOBs, examine the factors influencing their stability. Moreover, this contribution focusses on exploring the application of AOBs to encapsulate functional ingredients that are prone to oxidation as well as improve efficiency involved in protein purification, renaturation and immobilization by reducing the complex steps. In addition, the improvement measures to further enhance the stability and efficacy of AOBs are also discussed. The application of AOBs is expected to be a big step towards replacing existing bioreactors and delivery systems.

Plant oil bodies and their membrane components: new natural materials for food applications

Plants store triacylglycerols in the form of oil bodies (OBs) as an energy source for germination and subsequent seedling growth. The interfacial biomaterials from these OBs are called OB membrane materials (OBMMs) and have several applications in foods, e.g., as emulsifiers. OBMMs are preferred, compared with their synthetic counterparts, in food applications as emulsifiers because they are natural, i.e., suitable for clean label, and may stabilize bioactive components during storage. This review focuses mainly on the extraction technologies for plant OBMMs, the functionality of these materials, and the interaction of OB membranes with other food components. Different sources of OBs are evaluated and the challenges during the extraction and use of these OBMMs for food applications are addressed.

Effects of ultrasound-assisted salt (NaCl) extraction method on the structural and functional properties of Oleosin

²We propose a new ultrasound-assisted salt (NaCl) Oleosin extraction method, where the addition of NaCl induces the dissociation of Oleosin subunits and promotes the unfolding of the protein spatial structure. The yield of Oleosin post extraction and purification and solubility of Oleosin obtained using the proposed method were higher than those of Oleosin extracted using traditional methods, by 17.6% and 122.9%, respectively; reduction in particle size (to 52 nm) was also noted. Hydrogen bond dissociation, increase in surface hydrophobicity, and disulfide bond formation occurred simultaneously. However, the overall structure of Oleosin was not negatively affected. The physical properties of Oleosin, such as water and oil absorption, emulsification, and antioxidant activity, were improved, and the rate of Oleosin digestion decreased during the in vitro simulated digestion process. The proposed method provides a theoretical basis for producing proteins. This method can be utilized for effective extraction of Oleosin to achieve sustained release of the produced proteins.

Effects of covalent modification with epigallocatechin-3-gallate on oleosin structure and ability to stabilize artificial oil body emulsions

The purpose of this study was to enhance the stability and functional properties of artificial oil body (AOB) emulsions. Herein, we covalently conjugated oleosin (OL) and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) under alkaline conditions to obtain OL-EGCG conjugates. The results revealed that the structural characteristics of OL are improved by covalent binding to EGCG, with the OL-EGCG yield maximized at an EGCG concentration of 150 μM. We prepared AOB emulsions using native OL, the OL-EGCG conjugates, phosphatidylcholine (PC), and soybean oil for embedding curcumin. The results show that the protein components and phospholipids are bound in the AOB emulsion by hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions. The covalent OL-EGCG/PC-stabilized emulsions exhibited more uniform droplet distributions, stronger thermal stabilities, and higher curcumin retentions than the other samples. These results indicated that the OL-EGCG/PC complexes are potential stabilizers for AOB emulsions and provided fresh insight into preparing highly stable emulsion embedding systems with good encapsulation efficiencies.

Zebrafish: Speeding Up the Cancer Drug Discovery Process

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is an ideal in vivo model to study a wide variety of human cancer types. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of zebrafish in the cancer drug discovery process, from (i) approaches to induce malignant tumors, (ii) techniques to monitor cancer progression, and (iii) strategies for compound administration to (iv) a compilation of the 355 existing case studies showing the impact of zebrafish models on cancer drug discovery, which cover a broad scope of scenarios. Finally, based on the current state-of-the-art analysis, this review presents some highlights about future directions using zebrafish in cancer drug discovery and the potential of this model as a prognostic tool in prospective clinical studies. Cancer Res; 78(21); 6048-58. ©2018 AACR.