The Preparation and Characterization of Quinoa Protein Gels and Application in Eggless Bread.

The properties of xanthan gum protein gels composed of quinoa protein (XG-QPG) and ultrasound-treated quinoa protein (XG-UQPG) were compared for the preparation of high-quality quinoa protein gels. The gel qualities at different pH values were compared. The gels were used to produce eggless bread. Microscopically, the secondary structure of the proteins in XG-QPG (pH 7.0) was mainly α-helix, followed by random coiling. In contrast, the content of ß-sheet in XG-UQPG was higher, relative to the viscoelastic properties of the gel. Moreover, the free sulfhydryl groups and disulfide bonds of XG-QPG (pH 7.0) were 48.30 and 38.17 µmol/g, while XG-UQPG (pH 7.0) was 31.95 and 61.58 µmol/g, respectively. A high disulfide bond content was related to the formation of gel networks. From a macroscopic perspective, XG-QPG (pH 7.0) exhibited different pore sizes, XG-UQPG (pH 7.0) displayed a loose structure with uniform pores, and XG-UQPG (pH 4.5) exhibited a dense structure with small pores. These findings suggest that ultrasound can promote the formation of a gel by XG-UQPG (pH 7.0) that has a loose structure and high water-holding capacity and that XG-UQPG (pH 4.5) forms a gel with a dense structure and pronounced hardness. Furthermore, the addition of the disulfide bond-rich XG-UQPG (pH 7.0) to bread promoted the formation of gel networks, resulting in elastic, soft bread. In contrast, XG-UQPG (pH 4.5) resulted in firm bread. These findings broaden the applications of quinoa in food and provide a good egg substitute for quinoa protein gels.

Application of TOPSIS to evaluate the effects of different conditions of sonication on eggless cake properties, structure, and mass transfer.

The technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method was used to select the optimum point of power and time of ultrasound and baking temperature of eggless cake production. The effect of ultrasound power and baking time on the mass-transfer parameters such as moisture diffusion and the activation energy was assessed. The sonication treatment increased the viscosity of the eggless cake batter (25% in consistency coefficient and 24% in apparent viscosity). The minimum batter density was observed at 60% intensity for 30 or 60 s of sonication (1.0253 and 1.027 g/cm3 ). This condition also increased the eggless cake volume and springiness. In contrast, the crumb fractal dimension, hardness, gumminess, cohesiveness, and chewiness of the eggless cake decreased (1.65, 29, 39, 39, and 33%, respectively). The moisture diffusion during baking at 160, 180, and 200 °C and different ultrasound intensities were studied. The baking temperature of 200 °C and the intensity of 60% had the maximum effect on increasing the moisture diffusivity. Arrhenius equation showed the activation energy varied from 21.38 to 22.95 kJ/mol. The optimum quality of the eggless cake resulted from a combination of 60% intensity and 60 s of sonication and the baking temperature of 180 °C. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Some vegetarians do not consume eggs and egg-based products; therefore it is important to produce egg-free food options. Also, considering that eggs are one of the most expensive raw materials in the production of various types of cakes and have a low shelf-life, in this study, the effects of sonication on the quality characteristics of an eggless cake has been studied.

Essential roles of Windei and nuclear monoubiquitination of Eggless/SETDB1 in transposon silencing.

Eggless/SETDB1 (Egg), the only essential histone methyltransferase (HMT) in Drosophila, plays a role in gene repression, including piRNA-mediated transposon silencing in the ovaries. Previous studies suggested that Egg is post-translationally modified and showed that Windei (Wde) regulates Egg nuclear localization through protein-protein interaction. Monoubiquitination of mammalian SETDB1 is necessary for the HMT activity. Here, using cultured ovarian somatic cells, we show that Egg is monoubiquitinated and phosphorylated but that only monoubiquitination is required for piRNA-mediated transposon repression. Egg monoubiquitination occurs in the nucleus. Egg has its own nuclear localization signal, and the nuclear import of Egg is Wde-independent. Wde recruits Egg to the chromatin at target gene silencing loci, but their interaction is monoubiquitin-independent. The abundance of nuclear Egg is governed by that of nuclear Wde. These results illuminate essential roles of nuclear monoubiquitination of Egg and the role of Wde in piRNA-mediated transposon repression.

Development of gluten free eggless cake using gluten free composite flours made from sprouted and malted ingredients and its physical, nutritional, textural, rheological and sensory properties evaluation.

The aim of the study was to develop gluten free eggless cake using gluten free composite flour made of finger millet, sprouted soy and amaranth, for patients with celiac disease. Gluten free eggless cake prepared (T2), were analyzed for physical, textural, rheological and nutritional properties and compared with control cake (C) made using refined wheat flour and eggs and eggless composite flour cake made using whole wheat flour, malted finger millet, sprouted soy flour and amaranth (T1). There was no significant difference between T2 and C batter in terms of textural properties, flow behaviour index and consistency index. T2 had higher volume (454.4 cm3) as compared to T1 (437.1 cm3) cake. No significant differences in textural analysis were observed between cakes in terms of springiness, resilience and cohesiveness. The nutritional quality of T2 cake was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in case of phosphorous (224.0 mg/100 g) and iron content (7.39 mg/100 g). Therefore, gluten free eggless cake of high nutritional composition with good quality characteristics is a good substitute for refined flour egg and composite flour eggless cake. Higher mineral content due to germinated ingredients also made it a nutritious and palatable naturally gluten free food option for the people with celiac disease.

Effect of ingredients on rheological, physico-sensory, and nutritional characteristics of omega-3-fatty acid enriched eggless cake.

The effect of defatted soya flour (DS), flax seed powder (FS) in combination (DSFS) with emulsifiers such as glycerol monostearate, GMS (DSFSG) and sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate, SSL (DSFSS) on the rheological, physico-sensory, protein subunit composition by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), fatty acid profile, and nutritional characteristics of eggless cake was studied. Use of DSFS, DSFSG, and DSFSS increased the amylograph peak viscosity, hot and cold paste viscosities similar to the egg. Addition of DSFS, DSFSG, and DSFSS increased viscosity of eggless cake batter; cake volume and the overall quality score (OQS) of eggless cake. Among these, highest improvement in OQS was brought about by DSFSG. According to SDS-PAGE results, the improvement by DSFSG is due to crosslinking of wheat-soya-flax proteins similar to wheat-egg proteins crosslinking. The eggless cake with DSFSG was found to be rich in omega-3-fatty acid as it contained 0.6% of linolenic acid compared to 0.1% each of cake with egg and eggless cake. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: As eggs are significant source of cholesterol, there has been an increased interest in search of ingredients that can replace egg in cakes. Hence, recent trend in the baking industry is to produce eggless cake using a combination of different ingredients and additives. However, there is no scientific information on the interaction of non-egg protein with wheat protein in building up the structure and also to improve the nutritional quality with respect to protein and fatty acids profiles of eggless cake. The information generated on the use of combination of defatted soya flour and flax seed along with emulsifiers will be helpful for the commercial manufacture of omega-3-fatty acid rich eggless cake with desired quality attributes.

Replacement of eggs with soybean protein isolates and polysaccharides to prepare yellow cakes suitable for vegetarians.

To evaluate the feasibility of substituting eggs in yellow cake by a mixture of soybean proteins, plant polysaccharides, and emulsifiers, the batter properties, including specific gravity and viscosity; cake properties, including specific volume, texture, colour, moisture, microstructures, and structural properties of starch and glutens of the replaced cake and traditional cake containing egg, were evaluated. Replacing eggs with a soy protein isolate and 1% mono-, di-glycerides yielded a similar specific volume, specific gravity, firmness and moisture content (1.92 vs. 2.08cm3/g, 0.95 vs. 1.03, 319.8 vs. 376.1g, and 28.03% vs. 29.01%, respectively) compared with the traditional cakes baked with eggs. Structurally, this formulation comprised dominant gliadin aggregates in the size range of 100-200nm and glutenin networking structures containing fewer but larger porosities. The results suggest that a mixture of soybean proteins and emulsifier is a promising substitute for eggs in cakes.

The effect of different emulsifiers on the eggless cake properties containing WPC.

The possibility of complete replacement of egg proteins with whey protein concentrate (WPC) and improvement in quality by different emulsifiers was evaluated. Three emulsifiers, including polyglycerol ester (PGE), distilled mono glyceride (DMG) and lecithin were used to bake eggless cakes, containing 8% (w/w) WPC. The response surface analysis was applied to study the effect of emulsifiers on the eggless cake properties. The emulsifiers, individually and interactively, improved the properties of the eggless cakes significantly. The PGE and DMG decreased the batter density, however lecithin increased it. All emulsifiers increased the porosity and volume of the eggless cakes, but decreased the hardness and gumminess of crumb and improved the sensory acceptance. The indices used for optimization of formulation were water activity, moisture content, hardness, gumminess, volume, porosity and total acceptance. The optimum quality of the eggless cake can be achieved from a combination of 0.5 PGE, 0.25 DMG and 0.5% lecithin. The experimental and predicted responses of the optimized eggless cake had a good resemblance.

Influence of different emulsifiers on characteristics of eggless cake containing soy milk: Modeling of physical and sensory properties by mixture experimental design.

Emulsifiers of different structures and functionalities are important ingredients usually used in baking cakes with satisfactory properties. In this study, three emulsifiers including distilled glycerol mono stearate (DGMS), lecithin and sorbitan mono stearate (SMS) were used to bake seven eggless cakes containing soy milk and optimization was performed by using mixture experimental design to produce an eggless cake sample with optimized properties. Physical properties of cake batters (viscosity, specific gravity and stability), cake quality parameters (moisture loss, density, specific volume, volume index, contour, symmetry, color and texture) and sensory attributes of eggless cakes were analyzed to investigate functional potential of the emulsifiers and results were compared with those of control cake containing egg. Almost in all cases emulsifiers, compared to the control cake, changed properties of eggless cakes significantly. Regarding models of different response variables (except for some properties) and their high R(2) (99.51-100), it could be concluded that models obtained by mixture design were significantly fitted for the studied responses.