Physicochemical and functional properties of Chinese quince seed protein isolate

Chinese quince seed protein isolate (CPI) was extracted using aqueous extraction and the isoelectric precipitation method, and its physicochemical and functional properties were investigated. Results showed that CPI contained all essential amino acids with exception of methionine which met the minimum recommendations for adults (World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization). The electrophoresis analysis of sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel indicated that the molecular weights of protein fractions were approximately 15-60 kDa. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis was conducted, and the denaturation temperature of CPI was 103.4 °C. The surface hydrophobicity of CPI was found to be 932.80. The experiments showed that CPI had high emulsifying capacity, foaming stability, water holding capacity and oil adsorption capacity. Moreover, CPI also had outstanding gel formation capacity since its least gelation concentration of CPI was only 8%. All these results implied that CPI could be a nutritional protein resource and functional ingredient in the food industry.