Emulsifying and foaming properties of transglutaminase-treated wheat gluten hydrolysate as influenced by pH, temperature and salt

Hydrolyzed wheat gluten (GH, 77-85% protein) was prepared by limited hydrolysis with chymotrypsin at 37 °C for 4 h (degree of hydrolysis=6.4%) and 15 h (degree of hydrolysis=10.3%). The effect of microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) treatment (55 °C for 1 h, or 5 °C for 18 h) on the emulsifying and foaming properties of GH was evaluated under selected food processing conditions (pH 4.0 and 6.5, 0 and 0.6 M NaCl, and temperature 20 and 5 °C). At pH 4.0 and 0 M NaCl the MTGase treatment substantially increased foaming capacity (FC) of GH compared with their respective control GH samples, as a result of enhanced peptide adsorption to the air-water interface, but FC was similar for both control and MTGase-treated GH at pH 6.5. In contrast, foam drainage stability (FS) of MTGase-treated GH decreased at pH 4.0, but increased significantly (P<0.05) at pH 6.5 when compared with their respective control GH samples. The FC and FS were affected by 0.6 M NaCl in a pH-dependent manner. The MTGase treatments increased emulsion activity index up to 15-fold at pH 6.5, while emulsion stability index was influenced by emulsion temperature and ionic strength conditions. The MTGase-induced changes in functional properties of GH were attributed to pH-dependent solubility changes, the amphiphilic nature of gluten peptides and increased electrostatic repulsion resulting from deamidation.