Waxy starch to replace vegetable fat in extruded snack aromatisation and different salt delivery way to decrease sodium intake

Food industries must adapt their formulations to consumer needs, for a healthy diet. Extruded snacks are products where 10 to 20 % of fat, and large amounts of salt, are sprinkled on to fix flavours. Considering the need for flavouring and simultaneously reducing fat and sodium on snacks, an alternative flavouring method based on polysaccharides and a different salt delivery method was studied. This work aimed to evaluate waxy starch solutions to replace the oil in snacks, and a different approach to deliver salt, decreasing sodium content while keeping the same salt perception. To change the salt level, agglomerates were made with 70 %, and 85 % salt amounts, 30 % and 15 % starch added, respectively, in three different treatments, T1 (70 % of salt), T2 (85 % of salt), and T3 (100 % of salt, without waxy starch) as a control sample. All samples were milled in the same granulometry as regular salt. The snacks were flavoured using coatings consisting of waxywater solutions. The products were analysed by evaluating: i) physical-chemical parameters (lipids and sodium content, agglomeration index analysis (IA), and colour); ii) instrumental hardness; iii) sensorial parameters with 52 non-trained tasters. The main results showed no significant differences between T1, T2, and control samples in terms of lipids, sensorial perception, colour, and texture. As expected, in the sodium content, 30 % of reduction were found in T1 and 15 % of reduction in T2 compared with control. In this context, snacks produced in the present study would be healthier without a significant saltness perception difference from the controlsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The structure of the PanD/PanZ protein complex reveals negative feedback regulation of pantothenate biosynthesis by coenzyme A.

Coenzyme A (CoA) is an ubiquitous and essential cofactor, synthesized from the precursor pantothenate. Vitamin biosynthetic pathways are normally tightly regulated, including the pathway from pantothenate to CoA. However, no regulation of pantothenate biosynthesis has been identified. We have recently described an additional component in the pantothenate biosynthetic pathway, PanZ, which promotes the activation of the zymogen, PanD, to form aspartate ?-decarboxylase (ADC) in a CoA-dependent manner. Here we report the structure of PanZ in complex with PanD, which reveals the structural basis for the CoA dependence of this interaction and activation. In addition, we show that PanZ acts as a CoA-dependent inhibitor of ADC catalysis. This inhibitory effect can effectively regulate the biosynthetic pathway to pantothenate, and thereby also regulate CoA biosynthesis. This represents a previously unobserved mode of metabolic regulation whereby a cofactor-utilizing protein negatively regulates the biosynthesis of the same cofactor

Need for speed: Examining protein behavior during cryoEM grid preparation at different timescales

A host of new technologies are under development to improve the quality and reproducibility of cryoelectron microscopy (cryoEM) grid preparation. Here we have systematically investigated the preparation of three macromolecular complexes using three different vitrification devices (Vitrobot, chameleon, and a time-resolved cryoEM device) on various timescales, including grids made within 6 ms (the fastest reported to date), to interrogate particle behavior at the air-water interface for different timepoints. Results demonstrate that different macromolecular complexes can respond to the thin-film environment formed during cryoEM sample preparation in highly variable ways, shedding light on why cryoEM sample preparation can be difficult to optimize. We demonstrate that reducing time between sample application and vitrification is just one tool to improve cryoEM grid quality, but that it is unlikely to be a generic “silver bullet” for improving the quality of every cryoEM sample preparation

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3′-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk