Effects of Kernel Breakage and Fermentation on Corn Germ Integrity and Oil Quality

To investigate the ability of corn germ to withstand the fuel ethanol fermentation process without major damage to germ integrity and germ oil quality, five treatments were designed to explore degerming before fermentation (front-end) and after fermentation (tail-end), and the feasibility of breaking the kernel with minimum shear forces (wet-split). Germ from low-shear (wet-split) tail-end degerming maintained its integrity during the process. The wet-grind pretreatment caused 22% germ damage, and the subsequent fermentation caused 18% additional germ damage. The germ recovered after fermentation showed physical strength similar to that of those isolated by wet means before fermentation. The oils extracted from the tail-end germ fractions had the same low free fatty acid (FFA) content (2%) and similar low peroxide value (2 meq/kg) as those extracted at the front end. The good oil quality of the tail-end germ fraction was attributed to excellent germ integrity. The oil recovered after traditional dry-grind ethanol production was highly deteriorated, with 22% FFAs and 9 meq/kg peroxide value because the germ was broken into small pieces during dry grinding. So long as kernel-breakage or size-reduction pretreatments are conducted to retain intact germs or keep them in large pieces before fermentation, the germ can survive the cooking, starch hydrolysis, and yeast metabolism during the ethanol fermentation process. These findings lay a foundation for developing new degerming strategies where the germ can be isolated during or after fermentation, which could be easily integrated into the conventional dry-grind corn ethanol process

Low-Cost Oil-Processing Techniques

Advances in edible oil refining have been discussed in previous chapters of this book. These recent developments in physical-, chemical-, and adsorption-based refining techniques and related equipment designs will allow higher quantities of natural and bioactive compounds to be retained in the oil during refining compared with the use of conventional refining processes. This chapter summarizes recent research on mechanical extraction, minimum refining, and frying applications of soybean oil. The soybean is the dominant oilseed crop produced in the world due to its favorable agronomic characteristics, high-quality protein, and versatile edible oil. Soybeans constitute over one-half of all oilseeds produced worldwide (Fig. 13.1). Soybean oil accounted for 80–90% of total edible oil consumption in the United States in 1998 because of its availability and its desirable compositional and functional properties

Value-Added Products from Extruding-Expelling of Soybeans

Increasingly, extruding-expelling (E-E) plants, often referred as “mini-mills,” are being constructed by farmer-owned businesses to process soybeans produced in local areas. E-E processing is a mechanical process that has several advantages over conventional processing methods. E-E mills, most employing the Express System® (Insta-Pro Div., Triple “F”, Inc., Des Moines, IA), are relatively small, with capacities ranging from 6 to 120 tons/day. They have low initial capital investment ($150,000–200,000) and relatively low operating costs ($25/ton) (1). E-E mills are especially well suited for processing identity-preserved (IP) soybeans. The largescale solvent extraction (SE) facilities, which have typical crushing capacities of 2,000 to 3,000 tons/day, are not feasible for flexible IP processing. Usually, there is low production tonnage during the developmental stages of these seeds, and a large number of value-added traits are being developed. Recent stringent environmental laws also often restrict construction of new SE plants, and E-E mills can be an alternative. Because E-E products are not treated with chemical solvents, the crude oil and meal may be considered to be “organic” or “natural,” if appropriate methods are used during soybean production and further processing. Currently, the partially defatted soybean flour (about 6% residual oil) produced from these operations is not extensively used in food applications due to limited technical information on protein functionality and on performance in food applications. Some of the potential applications include baking, meat extending, animal feeding, and producing industrial soy protein–based adhesives. This chapter summarizes the recent efforts aimed at improving E-E processing and developing applications for E-E protein products

In silico prediction of the granzyme B degradome

10.1186/1471-2164-12-S3-S1110th Int. Conference on Bioinformatics - 1st ISCB Asia Joint Conference 2011, InCoB 2011/ISCB-Asia 2011: Computational Biology - Proceedings from Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet)12SUPPL. 3S1

A multi-factor model for caspase degradome prediction

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Caspases belong to a class of cysteine proteases which function as critical effectors in cellular processes such as apoptosis and inflammation by cleaving substrates immediately after unique tetrapeptide sites. With hundreds of reported substrates and many more expected to be discovered, the elucidation of the caspase degradome will be an important milestone in the study of these proteases in human health and disease. Several computational methods for predicting caspase cleavage sites have been developed recently for identifying potential substrates. However, as most of these methods are based primarily on the detection of the tetrapeptide cleavage sites - a factor necessary but not sufficient for predicting <it>in vivo </it>substrate cleavage - prediction outcomes will inevitably include many false positives.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper, we show that structural factors such as the presence of disorder and solvent exposure in the vicinity of the cleavage site are important and can be used to enhance results from cleavage site prediction. We constructed a two-step model incorporating cleavage site prediction and these factors to predict caspase substrates. Sequences are first predicted for cleavage sites using CASVM or GraBCas. Predicted cleavage sites are then scored, ranked and filtered against a cut-off based on their propensities for locating in disordered and solvent exposed regions. Using an independent dataset of caspase substrates, the model was shown to achieve greater positive predictive values compared to CASVM or GraBCas alone, and was able to reduce the false positives pool by up to 13% and 53% respectively while retaining all true positives. We applied our prediction model on the family of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and highlighted several members as potential caspase targets. The results suggest that RTKs may be generally regulated by caspase cleavage and in some cases, promote the induction of apoptotic cell death - a function distinct from their role as transducers of survival and growth signals.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>As a step towards the prediction of <it>in vivo </it>caspase substrates, we have developed an accurate method incorporating cleavage site prediction and structural factors. The multi-factor model augments existing methods and complements experimental efforts to define the caspase degradome on the systems-wide basis.</p

Ovarian antibodies as detected by indirect immunofluorescence are unreliable in the diagnosis of autoimmune premature ovarian failure: a controlled evaluation

BACKGROUND: Ovarian antibodies as detected by indirect immunofluorescence have been used to detect ovarian autoimmunity, but to our knowledge the rate of false positive findings using this method has never been reported. METHODS: Here we examine whether a commercially available ovarian antibody test system, using cynomologous monkey ovary, might be useful in the diagnosis of autoimmune premature ovarian failure. The test was performed in a blinded manner in 26 young women with 46,XX spontaneous premature ovarian failure, in 26 control women with regular menstrual cycles (matched for age, race, and parity) and 26 control men (matched for age and race). We also compared the frequency of other autoantibodies associated with ovarian autoimmunity. RESULTS: As a group young women with premature ovarian failure had an increased incidence of thyroid and gastric parietal cell autoimmunity (p < 0.05). Unexpectedly, however, nearly one third (31%) of normal control women had ovarian antibodies using the commercially available test. One half of young women with premature ovarian failure were found to have ovarian antibodies (P = 0.26). In our own laboratory we found similar results and we were unable to improve the specificity of the test. None of 26 men were found to have ovarian antibodies (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Since approximately one third of normal women were found to have ovarian antibodies using the system under study, we conclude that ovarian antibodies as detected by this indirect immunofluorescence method have poor specificity. The specificity of any ovarian antibody test should be established before it is used clinically