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Quality control method based on quartz crystal microbalance and WGA for flour milled from germinated wheat

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Abstract

The flour obtained from germinated wheat has a low quality and may be identified by its increased content of a specific marker: a toxic lectin named wheat germ agglutinin (WGA). Quartz crystal microbalance was used to study the lectin-carbohydrate bioaffinity interactions. Sensors for two plant lectins: Concanavalin A (Con A) and WGA were obtained by immobilizing glucose on gold coated piezoelectric quartz crystals via thiol bonds. The limit of detection was 0.1 μg/mL for Con A and 0.5 μg/mL for WGA. The proposed method was sensitive enough to detect the biologically active WGA from whole meal flour samples produced using three types of wheat before and after 36 h of germination. The WGA amount in germinated wheat was increased by 17–36.9%. The obtained WGA recoveries from spiked samples were between 88.7 and 110.6%. The analysis method may be adapted for the determination of biologically active lectins from nutritional supplements based on the plant extracts.

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Abbreviations

Con A:

Concanavalin A

WGA:

Wheat germ agglutinin

QCM:

Quartz crystal microbalance

BSA:

Bovine serum albumin

PBS:

Phosphate buffer solution

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Acknowledgments

Capo and Trivale wheat samples were a generous gift from Dr. Maria Voica, Agricultural Research and Development Station Albota-Pitesti, Romania. This work was supported by Romanian Ministry of Education and Research through BLUEBOXSENS 82102/2008, MICROSEN 11049-02 and SAFEFOOD 61/2007 grants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, Centre of Bioanalysis, 296, Splaiul Independentei, 060031, Bucharest, Romania

    Maria-Cristina Radulescu, Bogdan Bucur & Madalina Petruta Bucur

  2. Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, Politehnica University of Bucharest, 1-7, Polizu, 011061, Bucharest, Romania

    Gabriel Lucian Radu

Authors
  1. Maria-Cristina Radulescu
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  2. Bogdan Bucur
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  3. Madalina Petruta Bucur
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  4. Gabriel Lucian Radu
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Correspondence to Maria-Cristina Radulescu.

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Radulescu, MC., Bucur, B., Bucur, M.P. et al. Quality control method based on quartz crystal microbalance and WGA for flour milled from germinated wheat. Eur Food Res Technol 229, 833–840 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-009-1120-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-009-1120-2

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