Comparative studies on the physicochemical properties of soy protein isolate-maltodextrin and soy protein isolate-gum acacia conjugate prepared through Maillard reaction

Dry-heated Maillard reaction was applied in the preparation of protein–polysaccharide conjugates. Reaction mixtures containing soy protein isolate (SPI) and maltodextrin (1:1 weight ratio) were dry-heated at 60 °C and 79% relative humidity for three days. The mixtures of SPI and gum acacia (GA) were dry-heated at the same condition for one week. The conjugate of SPI–MD showed lower levels of free amino groups and higher degree of graft, which indicated that reaction between SPI and MD developed much faster than reaction between SPI and GA. The solubility of SPI at isoelectric point was improved remarkably after grafting with MD or GA. The grafted SPI showed significantly higher levels of emulsifying properties than SPI and the emulsifying properties of SPI–GA conjugate were much better than SPI–MD. Decreases of lysine and arginine contents after the graft reaction indicated that these two amino acid residues attended the covalent linkage between SPI and MD or GA. The graft reaction reduced surface hydrophobicity and fluorescence emission maximum value because of a shielding effect of the polysaccharide chain bound to proteins. The results of secondary structure suggested that grafted SPI had decreased the levels of α-helix, β-sheet and β-turn and increased unordered coils level.