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Thermal Gelation of Proteins from Cajanus cajan Influenced by pH and Ionic Strength

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Abstract

Cajanus cajan [pigeon pea (PP)] is an important legume crop for subsistence agriculture and its seeds are an alternative plant-based protein source. PP protein isolates (PPI) are able to form heat-induced gels that could be used for food applications. The aim of this work was to study the influence of pH (2.1, 3.9, 6.3, and 8.3) and ionic strength (μ) (0.10 and 0.54) on thermal stability and thermal gelation of PPI obtained by alkaline extraction (pH 8.0) and isoelectric precipitation. Thermal stability of PPI changed with pH variation at low ionic strength (μ = 0.10), decreasing this dependence with the increase of ionic strength (μ = 0.54). At μ = 0.10, gelation capacity of PPI was lower at pH 2.1 and pH 3.9. These gels presented a coarse network, which entails low WHC. At pH 6.3 and pH 8.3, gels showed a solid-like character with a compact and homogeneous matrix, with better WHC. At μ = 0.54, gel formation was favoured at pH 2.1 and pH 3.9. G′20/G′95 ratio values and differential solubility results suggest that hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions could play an important role in gel formation at pH 6.3 and pH 8.3.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

DSC:

Differential scanning calorimeter

ESM:

Electronical Supplementary Material

G′:

Elastic modulus

G″:

Viscous modulus

LGC:

Least gelation concentration

pI:

Isoelectric point

PP:

Pigeon pea

PPI:

Pigeon pea protein isolates

SB:

Saline buffer

So:

Protein solubility

tan δ:

Tangent of the phase angle

U:

Urea

W:

Water

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Juan Manuel Castagnini and Mercedes Carolina Rasia from the Facultad de Ciencias de la Alimentación (UNER) for their kind help and suggestions during experiments.

Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT) and the Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE) and CONICET, Argentina.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales y Agrimensura, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE) and Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino (IQUIBANEA), UNNE-CONICET, Avenida Libertad 5470 (3400), Corrientes, República Argentina

    Eliana Isabel Fernández Sosa, María Guadalupe Chaves, Felicitas Peyrano & María Victoria Avanza

  2. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos (CIDCA), UNLP-CONICET, 47 y 116 (1900), La Plata, Buenos Aires, República Argentina

    Alejandra Viviana Quiroga

Authors
  1. Eliana Isabel Fernández Sosa
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  4. Alejandra Viviana Quiroga
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Contributions

Fernández Sosa EI. Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - Original Draft; Chaves MG. Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - Review & Editing, Visualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition; Peyrano F. Methodology, Validation, Writing - Review & Editing, Visualization; Quiroga AV. Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Resources, Writing - Review & Editing, Visualization; Avanza MV. Conceptualization, Resources, Writing - Review & Editing Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eliana Isabel Fernández Sosa.

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Fernández Sosa, E.I., Chaves, M.G., Peyrano, F. et al. Thermal Gelation of Proteins from Cajanus cajan Influenced by pH and Ionic Strength. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 78, 574–583 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-023-01086-2

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