Inositol phosphate degradation by the action of phytase enzyme in legume seeds

Trait stacking simultaneously enhances provitamin A carotenoid and mineral bioaccessibility in biofortified Sorghum bicolor

Vitamin A, iron, and zinc deficiencies are major nutritional inadequacies in sub-Saharan Africa and disproportionately affect women and children. Biotechnology strategies have been tested to individually improve provitamin A carotenoid or mineral content and/or bioaccessibility in staple crops including sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). However, concurrent carotenoid and mineral enhancement has not been thoroughly assessed and antagonism between these chemical classes has been reported. This work evaluated two genetically engineered constructs containing a suite of heterologous genes to increase carotenoid stability and pathway flux, as well as phytase to catabolize phytate and increase mineral bioaccessibility. Model porridges made from transgenic events were evaluated for carotenoid and mineral content as well as bioaccessibility. Transgenic events produced markedly higher amounts of carotenoids (26.4 μg g^-1 DW) compared to null segregants (4.2 μg g^-1 DW) and wild-type control (Tx430; 3.7 μg g^-1 DW). Phytase activation by pre-steeping flour resulted in significant phytate reduction (9.4 to 4.2 mg g^-1 DW), altered the profile of inositol phosphate catabolites, and reduced molar ratios of phytate to iron (16.0 to 4.1), and zinc (19.0 to 4.9) in engineered material, suggesting improved mineral bioaccessibility. Improved phytate : mineral ratios did not significantly affect micellarization and bioaccessible provitamin A carotenoids were over 23 times greater in transgenic events compared to corresponding null segregants and wild-type controls. A 200 g serving of porridge made with these transgenic events provide an estimated 53.7% of a 4-8-year-old child's vitamin A estimated average requirement. These data suggest that combinatorial approaches to enhance micronutrient content and bioaccessibility are feasible and warrant further assessment in human studies.

Dephytinized flaxseed flours by phytase enzyme and fermentation: functional ingredients to enhance the nutritional quality of noodles

BACKGROUND

Phytic acid is an antinutritional compound that reduces the bioavailability of minerals and proteins. Flaxseed is a rich source of unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants. In this study, flaxseed flour was dephytinized by phytase enzyme and fermentation. Untreated and dephytinized flaxseed flours were used in noodle production at 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% levels to improve nutritional quality.

RESULTS

The addition of flaxseed flours did not show an adverse effect on the cooking loss values of noodles (4.22-4.85%). Firmness values of noodles containing 10% flaxseed flour were close to the control (0% flaxseed flour). The ash, protein and fat levels of noodles were enhanced with the addition of flaxseed flours. The use of 30% phytase-treated flaxseed flour in noodles elicited lower phytic acid concentration (1.35 g kg^-1 ) than the control (1.52 g kg^-1 ). The greatest total phenolic contents in noodles were obtained with the inclusion of fermented flour. Besides that, noodles made from flaxseed flours exhibited stronger antioxidant activity than the control. The overall acceptability scores of noodles containing 10% and 20% dephytinized flours were close to the control.

CONCLUSION

The findings demonstrated that the inclusion of dephytinized flaxseed flours up to 20% can allow the production of functional noodles with acceptable quality. Moreover, phytase enzyme treatment method revealed lower phytic acid content than fermentation method in noodles and better antioxidant properties than untreated noodles. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Questing functions and structures of hypothetical proteins from Campylobacter jejuni: a computer-aided approach

Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is considered to be one of the most frequent causes of bacterial gastroenteritis globally, especially in young children. The genome of C. jejuni contains many proteins with unknown functions termed as hypothetical proteins (HPs). These proteins might have essential biological role to show the full spectrum of this bacterium. Hence, our study aimed to determine the functions of HPs, pertaining to the genome of C. jejuni. An in-silico work flow integrating various tools were performed for functional assignment, three-dimensional structure determination, domain architecture predictors, subcellular localization, physicochemical characterization, and protein-protein interactions (PPIs). Sequences of 267 HPs of C. jejuni were analyzed and successfully attributed the function of 49 HPs with higher confidence. Here, we found proteins with enzymatic activity, transporters, binding and regulatory proteins as well as proteins with biotechnological interest. Assessment of the performance of various tools used in this analysis revealed an accuracy of 95% using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Functional and structural predictions and the results from ROC analyses provided the validity of in-silico tools used in the present study. The approach used for this analysis leads us to assign the function of unknown proteins and relate them with the functions that have already been described in previous literature.

Complete genome sequence and antimicrobial activity of Bacillus velezensis JT3-1, a microbial germicide isolated from yak feces

Bacillus velezensis JT3-1 was isolated from feces of the domestic yak (Bos grunniens) in Gansu province of China. Aim to know whether B. velezensis JT3-1 has the potency to be developed as a probiotic bacterium, works on the complete genome sequence, antimicrobial activity, growth performance in calves, and treatment effect on calf diarrhea of B. velezensis JT3-1 were carried out. The results showed that the complete genome of B. velezensis JT3-1 contains one gapless circular chromosome which is 3,929,799 bp, and has 3761 protein-encoding genes with an average GC content of 46.50%. From the antimicrobial activity results, B. velezensis JT3-1 has shown strong antagonistic activities against Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, Mannheimia haemolytica, Staphylococcus hominis, Clostridium perfringens, and Mycoplasma bovis. Compared with the control group, the average weight of the experiment animals from Bv1 group and Bv2 group which were supplemented with B. velezensis JT3-1 was significantly increased (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the Bv1 and Bv2 supplement significantly improved the level of IgA, IgG, IgM, and IFN-γ in calves as compared with the controls (P < 0.05), but the IL-2 level was not obviously changed between the three groups. In addition, B. velezensis JT3-1 showed a good effect against diarrhea, as the cure rate reached 95.0% (171/180) in newborn calves (Angus cattle) in Xinjiang, and 100.0% (149/149) in yak calves in Qinghai, respectively. Our study will lay a good foundation for the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of its antimicrobial activity, and supports the hypothesis that JT3-1 has the potential to be developed as a probiotic bacterium in cattle.

Design and validation of a real-time PCR technique for assessing the level of inclusion of fungus- and yeast-based additives in feeds

A reliable method for quantification of non-viable microbe-based nutritional and zootechnical additives introduced into feed is essential in order to ensure regulatory compliance, feed safety and product authenticity in industrial applications. In the present work, we developed a novel real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) -based analysis protocol for monitoring two microbial additives in feed matrices. To evaluate the applicability of the method, pelleted wheat- and maize-based broiler chicken diets containing a non-viable phytase-producing strain of Aspergillus niger produced in solid state fermentation (150 or 300 g/t) and a non-viable selenium-enriched Saccharomyces cerevisiae (100 or 200 g/t) as model feed ingredients, were manufactured and subjected to analysis. Power analysis of the qPCR results indicated that 2 to 6 replicate feed samples were required to distinguish the product doses applied, which confirms that the microbial DNA was efficiently recovered and that potential PCR inhibitors present in the feed material were successfully removed in DNA extraction. The analysis concept described here was shown to be an accurate and sensitive tool for monitoring the inclusion levels of non-viable, unculturable microbial supplements in animal diets.

Characterization of indigenous Pediococcus pentosaceus, Leuconostoc kimchii, Weissella cibaria and Weissella confusa for faba bean bioprocessing

The interest towards legumes in food applications has risen over the past decades. However, the presence of antinutritional factors (ANF) and the poor technological performances still restricts their application in food fortification. In this study, four lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from faba bean were applied as starter cultures for faba bean bioprocessing. None of the strains employed produced exopolysaccharides from raffinose, on the contrary, they did with sucrose as substrate. The fermented doughs were characterized and the strains were compared for their adaptation capacity and metabolic performance including the formation of dextrans, the degradation of ANF and the ability to improve antioxidant activity and in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD). A contribution to the proteolysis was given by the presence of endogenous enzymes, responsible for the increase of peptides and amino acids in dough from irradiated flour. However, the LAB strains further enhanced proteolysis. Weissella cibaria VTT E-153485 led to the highest peptide release and consequentially to the highest IVPD. In doughs fermented with Pediococcus pentosaceus VTT E-153483 and Leuconostoc kimchi VTT E-153484, phytic acid was reduced to more than half the initial concentration. Inoculated doughs had significantly lower content of oligosaccharides after 24 h of incubation compared to the controls. The most efficient raffinose consumption was found for Leuc. kimchi and W. cibaria. Doughs inoculated with weissellas contained >1% of dextrans. Weissella confusa VTT E-143403 induced a significant increment in viscosity (ca. 7 times higher than the controls). This study revealed that well-characterized, indigenous LAB provided beneficial biotechnological features in faba bean dough processing and contributed to its implementation in the food production.

High Resolution 31P NMR Spectroscopy Generates a Quantitative Evolution Profile of Phosphorous Translocation in Germinating Sesame Seed

Phosphorus metabolism and circulation are essential bio-physicochemical processes during development of a plant and have been extensively studied and known to be affected by temperature, humidity, lighting, hormones etc. However, a quantitative description of how various phosphorous species evolve over time has not been reported. In this work, a combined ³¹P liquid and solid state NMR spectroscopic methodology is employed, supported by a new extraction scheme and data analysis method, to carry out a quantitative investigation of phosphorous circulation in germinating sesame seeds in dark and under illumination with and without adding a growth hormone. The spectra show that only slight changes occur for phosphorous metabolism at the initial stage but a rapid change takes place between 48–96 hours after germination is started. The metabolism is found to be temperature dependent and affected by illumination and hormone. However, neither illumination nor hormone affects the final residual concentration of phytin. Moreover, phytin does not flow out of cotyledon and the phosphorous flowing to other parts of the plant is always in the inorganic form. The overall evolution profile of phytate consumption is found to be a Gaussian decaying function. These findings can be explained with a dynamic model on phytin conversion.

Exploring the Microbiota of Faba Bean: Functional Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria

This study investigated the metabolic traits of 27 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains belonging to different species, previously isolated from faba bean. The activities assayed, related to technological and nutritional improvement of fermented faba bean, included peptidases, β-glucosidase, phytase, as well as exopolysaccharides synthesis and antimicrobial properties. In addition, the bacteria performance as starter cultures during faba bean fermentation on proteolysis, antioxidant potential, and degradation of condensed tannins were assessed. Fermentative profiling showed that only 7 out of 27 strains were able to metabolize D-raffinose, particularly Leuc. mesenteroides I01 and I57. All strains of Pediococcus pentosaceus exerted high PepN activity and exhibited β-glucosidase activity higher than the median value of 0.015 U, while phytase activity was largely distributed among the different strains. All the weissellas, and in lower amount leuconostocs, showed ability to produce EPS from sucrose. None of the strains did not survive the simulated gastrointestinal tract with the exception of P. pentosaceus I56, I76, 147, I214, having a viability of 8–9 log CFU/ml at the end of the treatment. None of the strains showed antimicrobial activity toward Staphylococcus aureus, while eight strains of P. pentosaceus exhibited a strong inhibitory activity toward Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes. Generally, the doughs fermented with pediococci exhibited high amount of total free amino acids, antioxidant activity, and condensed tannins degradation. These results allowed the identification of LAB biotypes as potential starter cultures for faba bean bioprocessing, aiming at the enhancement of faba bean use in novel food applications.

Microbial enzymes: industrial progress in 21st century

Abstract

Biocatalytic potential of microorganisms have been employed for centuries to produce bread, wine, vinegar and other common products without understanding the biochemical basis of their ingredients. Microbial enzymes have gained interest for their widespread uses in industries and medicine owing to their stability, catalytic activity, and ease of production and optimization than plant and animal enzymes. The use of enzymes in various industries (e.g., food, agriculture, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals) is increasing rapidly due to reduced processing time, low energy input, cost effectiveness, nontoxic and eco-friendly characteristics. Microbial enzymes are capable of degrading toxic chemical compounds of industrial and domestic wastes (phenolic compounds, nitriles, amines etc.) either via degradation or conversion. Here in this review, we highlight and discuss current technical and scientific involvement of microorganisms in enzyme production and their present status in worldwide enzyme market.

Graphical abstract

A broader view: microbial enzymes and their relevance in industries, medicine, and beyond

Enzymes are the large biomolecules that are required for the numerous chemical interconversions that sustain life. They accelerate all the metabolic processes in the body and carry out a specific task. Enzymes are highly efficient, which can increase reaction rates by 100 million to 10 billion times faster than any normal chemical reaction. Due to development in recombinant technology and protein engineering, enzymes have evolved as an important molecule that has been widely used in different industrial and therapeutical purposes. Microbial enzymes are currently acquiring much attention with rapid development of enzyme technology. Microbial enzymes are preferred due to their economic feasibility, high yields, consistency, ease of product modification and optimization, regular supply due to absence of seasonal fluctuations, rapid growth of microbes on inexpensive media, stability, and greater catalytic activity. Microbial enzymes play a major role in the diagnosis, treatment, biochemical investigation, and monitoring of various dreaded diseases. Amylase and lipase are two very important enzymes that have been vastly studied and have great importance in different industries and therapeutic industry. In this review, an approach has been made to highlight the importance of different enzymes with special emphasis on amylase and lipase in the different industrial and medical fields.

Low phytic acid 1 mutation in maize modifies density, starch properties, cations, and fiber contents in the seed

Monogastric animals are unable to digest phytic acid, so it represents an antinutritional factor and also an environmental problem. One strategy to solve this problem is the utilization of low phytic acid (lpa) mutants that accumulate low levels of phytic P and high levels of free phosphate in the seeds; among the lpa maize mutants lpa1 exhibited the highest reduction of phytic acid in the seed. This study indicated that the low phytic acid mutations exerted pleiotropic effects not directly connected to the phytic acid pathway, such as on seed density, content of ions, and the antioxidant compounds present in the kernels. Furthermore some nutritional properties of the flour were altered by the lpa1 mutations, in particular lignin and protein content, while the starch does not seem to be modified as to the total amount and in the amylose/amylopectin ratio, but alterations were noticed in the structure and size of granules.

Detoxification and anti-nutrients reduction of Jatropha curcas seed cake by Bacillus fermentation

Jatropha curcas seed cake is a by-product generated from oil extraction of J. curcas seed. Although it contains a high amount of protein, it has phorbol esters and anti-nutritional factors such as phytate, trypsin inhibitor, lectin and saponin. It cannot be applied directly in the food or animal feed industries. This investigation was aimed at detoxifying the toxic and anti-nutritional compounds in J. curcas seed cake by fermentation with Bacillus spp. Two GRAS (generally recognized as safe) Bacillus strains used in the study were Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis with solid-state and submerged fermentations. Solid-state fermentation was done on 10 g of seed cake with a moisture content of 70% for 7 days, while submerged fermentation was carried out on 10 g of seed cake in 100 ml distilled water for 5 days. The fermentations were incubated at the optimum condition of each strain. After fermentation, bacterial growth, pH, toxic and anti-nutritional compounds were determined. Results showed that B. licheniformis with submerged fermentation were the most effective method to degrade toxic and anti-nutritional compounds in the seed cake. After fermentation, phorbol esters, phytate and trypsin inhibitor were reduced by 62%, 42% and 75%, respectively, while lectin could not be eliminated. The reduction of phorbol esters, phytate and trypsin inhibitor was related to esterase, phytase and protease activities, respectively. J. curcas seed cake could be mainly detoxified by bacterial fermentation and the high-protein fermented seed cake could be potentially applied to animal feed.

Effect of exogenous phytase on feed inositol phosphate hydrolysis in an in vitro rumen fluid buffer system

Three in vitro experiments using a rumen fluid buffer system were performed to investigate the effect of addition of 4 experimental phytases (Phy1, Phy2, Phy3, and Phy4) compared with no addition of phytase on feed inositol phosphate hydrolysis in wheat and rapeseed cake to determine which of the 4 phytases was most suitable under rumen-like conditions. The feedstuffs were incubated with a mixture of physiological buffer, ruminal fluid, and exogenous phytase at pH 6.2, after which the samples were incubated for different periods. Incubations were stopped using HCl, and the samples were analyzed for inositol phosphates via high performance ion chromatography. Addition of phytase (Phy1) resulted in enhanced degradation of myo-inositol hexakisphosphate (InsP(6)) in rapeseed cake, whereas addition of exogenous phytase did not improve the degradation of InsP(6) in wheat. Only rapeseed cake was therefore used subsequently. All 4 phytases increased degradation of InsP(6) in rapeseed cake in the in vitro system, and degradability of InsP(6) increased with higher incubation time and higher phytase dosages, independent of phytase. Addition of 2 units of phytase per gram of substrate of the phytases Phy1, Phy2, Phy3, and Phy4 led to an undegraded InsP(6) content of 56, 49, 70, and 18%, respectively, when incubated with rapeseed cake for 6h, indicating that Phy2 and Phy4 were the most effective phytases. However, Phy2 had a higher specific activity than Phy4, as 60% of the original InsP(6) content was remaining after 3h when 5mg of enzyme protein per gram of substrate of Phy2 was added to rapeseed cake, whereas 150 mg of enzyme protein per gram of substrate of Phy4 was necessary to achieve a similar result. Therefore, Phy2 appeared to be most applicable under rumen-like conditions.

Physiological (osmotic fragility) and morphological effects on red blood cells: action of phytic acid and stannous fluoride

Phytic acid occurs in foods derived from plants. We have investigated the possibility that phytic acid and stannous fluoride are capable of altering the physiological properties (osmotic fragility) and morphological properties of red blood cells (RBC). Osmotic fragility was unchanged by the presence of phytic acid and stannous fluoride in the studied concentrations, but RBC morphology was modified in the presence of the studied substances. In conclusion, the alterations to RBC morphology were not sufficient to promote modifications in osmotic fragility. Our results suggest that the chelating properties of phytic acid could be responsible for the observed effects.Key words: phytic acid, stannous fluoride, morphology, osmotic fragility.