Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

Enzymatic protein hydrolysis of by-products of marine and animal origin is an emerging industry world-wide. In both the animal and marine sectors, enzymatic protein hydrolysis has been a subject of focus for several years. Currently, there are several commercial companies that produce protein hydrolysates from by-products of various origins. The market potential is huge, ranging from feed and food to pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and the process is one of several possibilities for meeting the expected future challenges of protein shortage in the world. One of the main challenges regarding industrial enzymatic protein hydrolysis is to provide stable and optimal product quality based on raw materials of highly variable composition. Rapid and robust tools to monitor raw material quality, the hydrolysis process and end-product quality are thus of great importance. There is, however, currently a lack of techniques to serve these purposes. When dealing with hydrolysis it is a crucial point to decide when to terminate the process and inactivate the enzymes. In this regard, infrared spectra are known to be sensitive probes for protein structure, and feasibility studies using rapid infrared and near-infrared sensors for monitoring of hydrolysis reactions carried out in our group have shown promising results. Namely an approach for infrared analysis based on thin dried films of protein hydrolysates has been adopted by our group to overcome sensitivity issues inherent to infrared spectra. Using this methodology, we are now able to monitor the enzymatic hydrolysis of by-products from salmonoid and chicken production based on spectral changes in the protein regions of the infrared spectra. The approach is rapid, easy to use, could be automated, and can potentially be implemented in low-cost instrumentation in industrial environments. In this presentation, the information obtained by means of infrared spectroscopy has been validated and correlated with results achieved by Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC). In SEC, molecules are separated according to their size and molecular weight distribution profiles are easy to get. Thus, based on the combination of infrared spectra with SEC, a validated and reliable tool is provided to monitor enzymatic protein hydrolysis in rest materials from salmonoid and chicken production.

Biography

Email:

nils.kristian.afseth@nofima.no