Interactions and assemblies of wheat prolamins

Ce travail de thèse vise à apporter des connaissances structurales et fonctionnelles sur les protéines du gluten. Pour cela, nous utilisons les concepts et méthodes de la physique des polymères et de la matière molle. Plus précisément, nous optimisons un protocole d’extraction basé sur la séparation de phases liquide-liquide. Ce dernier permet d’obtenir des isolats de protéines à différents rapports massiques gluténines/gliadines que nous étudions ensuite dans un solvant eau/éthanol 50/50 (v/v). Les résultats montrent que les protéines se comportent comme des chaînes de polymères en solvant θ, en régime dilué et semi-dilué avec des tailles caractéristiques définis par diffusion de rayons X et de neutrons aux petits angles. De plus, 2 tailles d’objets sont distinguées en régime dilué par diffusion dynamique de la lumière: d’une part des protéines monomériques de l’ordre d’une dizaine de nanomètres associées aux et -gliadines et à des polymères de gluténines de faibles masses molaires et d’autre part des assemblages polymériques de l’ordre de 100 nm, principalement composés de ω-gliadines et polymères de gluténines de haute masse molaire. Ces assemblages sont mis en avant par une combinaison de mesures réalisées par chromatographie d’exclusion de taille et par fractionnement par flux de forces asymétrique et permettent de rationaliser les diagrammes de phases de ces mélanges protéiques, en fonction de la température. L’étude de la dynamique de séparation de phases de ces mélanges protéiques, par diffusion de rayons X aux petits angles, montre que celle-ci est pilotée par un phénomène de décomposition spinodale. Cette décomposition peut être arrêtée lors de trempes en température profondes mais également observée à toutes les températures de trempe, pour les échantillons les plus riches en gluténines, formant un gel dès le régime monophasique, d’après leur étude par rhéologieThe aim of this thesis is to provide structural and functional knowledge on wheat gluten proteins. For that, we use the physical methods and the concept of soft matter. We optimize an extraction protocol based on a liquid-liquid phase separation. With this protocol, we obtain protein batches with different glutenin/gliadin mass ratios, which we then study in a 50/50 water/ethanol solvent (v/v). We show that proteins behave like polymer chains in θ solvent in dilute and semi-dilute regime, whose characteristic size are extracted by small angle X-ray and neutron scattering. Moreover, two sizes of objects are evidenced in dilute regime by dynamic light scattering: monomeric proteins with a size around 10 nm which can be associated to α/β, and γ-gliadins and polymeric glutenins with low molecular weight and polymeric assemblies with a size around 100 nm composed of ω-gliadins and glutenins polymers with high molecular weight. These assemblies are revealed by a combination of size exclusion chromatography and asymmetric flow field flow fractionation and allow one to rationalize the phase diagrams of the protein mixtures with temperature. The study of the dynamics of the phase separation of these protein mixtures by small angle X-ray scattering shows that the phase separation proceeds through a spinodal decomposition phenomenon. An arrested phase separation is observed for deep quenches but also at all temperature quenches for the most glutenin rich samples, which are gels in the monophasic regime, as confirmed by rheology

Interactions et assemblages de prolamines du blé

The aim of this thesis is to provide structural and functional knowledge on wheat gluten proteins. For that, we use the physical methods and the concept of soft matter. We optimize an extraction protocol based on a liquid-liquid phase separation. With this protocol, we obtain protein batches with different glutenin/gliadin mass ratios, which we then study in a 50/50 water/ethanol solvent (v/v). We show that proteins behave like polymer chains in θ solvent in dilute and semi-dilute regime, whose characteristic size are extracted by small angle X-ray and neutron scattering. Moreover, two sizes of objects are evidenced in dilute regime by dynamic light scattering: monomeric proteins with a size around 10 nm which can be associated to α/β, and γ-gliadins and polymeric glutenins with low molecular weight and polymeric assemblies with a size around 100 nm composed of ω-gliadins and glutenins polymers with high molecular weight. These assemblies are revealed by a combination of size exclusion chromatography and asymmetric flow field flow fractionation and allow one to rationalize the phase diagrams of the protein mixtures with temperature. The study of the dynamics of the phase separation of these protein mixtures by small angle X-ray scattering shows that the phase separation proceeds through a spinodal decomposition phenomenon. An arrested phase separation is observed for deep quenches but also at all temperature quenches for the most glutenin rich samples, which are gels in the monophasic regime, as confirmed by rheology.Ce travail de thèse vise à apporter des connaissances structurales et fonctionnelles sur les protéines du gluten. Pour cela, nous utilisons les concepts et méthodes de la physique des polymères et de la matière molle. Plus précisément, nous optimisons un protocole d’extraction basé sur la séparation de phases liquide-liquide. Ce dernier permet d’obtenir des isolats de protéines à différents rapports massiques gluténines/gliadines que nous étudions ensuite dans un solvant eau/éthanol 50/50 (v/v). Les résultats montrent que les protéines se comportent comme des chaînes de polymères en solvant θ, en régime dilué et semi-dilué avec des tailles caractéristiques définis par diffusion de rayons X et de neutrons aux petits angles. De plus, 2 tailles d’objets sont distinguées en régime dilué par diffusion dynamique de la lumière: d’une part des protéines monomériques de l’ordre d’une dizaine de nanomètres associées aux et -gliadines et à des polymères de gluténines de faibles masses molaires et d’autre part des assemblages polymériques de l’ordre de 100 nm, principalement composés de ω-gliadines et polymères de gluténines de haute masse molaire. Ces assemblages sont mis en avant par une combinaison de mesures réalisées par chromatographie d’exclusion de taille et par fractionnement par flux de forces asymétrique et permettent de rationaliser les diagrammes de phases de ces mélanges protéiques, en fonction de la température. L’étude de la dynamique de séparation de phases de ces mélanges protéiques, par diffusion de rayons X aux petits angles, montre que celle-ci est pilotée par un phénomène de décomposition spinodale. Cette décomposition peut être arrêtée lors de trempes en température profondes mais également observée à toutes les températures de trempe, pour les échantillons les plus riches en gluténines, formant un gel dès le régime monophasique, d’après leur étude par rhéologi

Interactions and assemblies of wheat proteins

International audienceInteractions and assemblies of wheat protein

Interactions et assemblages de prolamines de blé

National audienceN

Tackling the question of specific interactions in a complex blend of proteins: the gluten case

International audienceNatural protein sources often display a huge complexity, being composed of a blend of polypeptides of various molecular weight, pHi and charge density. Gluten, the proteins extracted from wheat flour is one of such. Gluten is widely used for its viscoelastic properties as an improver of cereal products (bread, pastry, etc.). It is composed of two classes of proteins, named gliadin and glutenin, similar in their amounts in glutamine (30%) and proline (10%). The more than 25 different polypeptides belonging to the gliadin class are hard to fractionate into individual components because of high redundancy in the primary sequences. Glutenin are in the form of polymers made from several distinct polypeptides concatenated through inter-chain disulfide bonds. Their molecular weights are evenly distributed from 100 kg/mol to 7,000 kg/mol.While it is well established that gliadin confers viscosity to gluten whereas glutenin polymers are at the origin of its elastic resistance, the interactions existing between both classes of gluten protein remain unknown. We previously showed by SLS and multi-angle DLS that gluten proteins suspended in ethanol/water (50/50, v/v), a theta solvent, includes large proteins assemblies (26,000 kg/mol, Rh 100nm) displaying an internal dynamic1. To get a better insight of the composition of those assemblies, we combined biochemical and physicochemical approaches. On the one hand, gluten proteins suspended in ethanol/water were fractionated by Asymmetrical- Flow-Field-Flow Fractionation (A4F) coupled to UV, SLS and QELS detectors. On the other hand, gluten proteins were partitioned by liquid-phase decomposition in respect with temperature. Protein composition of partitioned phases and eluting fractions recovered from A4F were characterized by size-exclusion chromatography. A specific interaction between omega-gliadin and glutenin polymers was evidenced.This result strengthens a very recent study that demonstrates a significant positive correlation between glutenin polymeric proteins, the ω‐gliadin fraction, and dough properties

Tackling the question of specific interactions in a complex blend of Proteins

Tackling the question of specific interactions in a complex blend of Proteins. Edible Soft Matter – a SoftComp Topical Worksho

Thermodynamic insights on the liquid-liquid fractionation of gluten proteins in aqueous ethanol

International audienceWheat gluten includes two major proteins classes, gliadin (25–60 kg/mol) and glutenin polymers (100 to > 2,000 kg/mol) each comprising several polypeptides routinely identified by size-exclusion chromatography and electrophoresis. Gluten proteins are rich in glutamine (30%) and contain several repeated sequences, linking them to the wide class of intrinsically disordered protein (IDP). Here we showed that an ethanol/water (EtOH/W, 50/50, v/v) extract of an industrial gluten, comprising 1/3 of glutenin polymers and 2/3 of gliadin, underwent liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) below 14 °C, leading to two coexisting phases, respectively rich and poor in protein. As the quenching depth increased, proteins of lower and lower molecular weight joined the rich phase, akin to what would have been obtained for a polydisperse polymer sample. Within the rich phase the mass ratio of glutenin over gliadin decreased from 2.5 to 0.5 as the temperature dropped from 14 °C to −0.8 °C. Concomitantly the concentration in glutenin polymers increased up to 143 ± 6 g/L (at 9 °C) and then stopped to evolve, suggesting that the binodal line intersected the gelation line below this temperature. Applying the Flory-Huggins (FH) lattice model for each gluten protein classes, we demonstrated that their partitioning in the coexisting phases followed a same temperature dependency. However, some gliadin species joined the rich phase above their critical temperature. Here, specific interactions with the glutenin polymers through weak forces were exemplified. The study demonstrated the relevance of the Flory-Huggins (FH) lattice model in predicting phase behavior even when applied to complex protein mixtures

Methods for Screening Cloud Point Temperatures

International audienceA novel and simple method for the measurement of cloud point temperatures of solutions is presented. Cloud point determination , which is currently used to establish the phase diagrams of protein solutions, is indicative of proteins interactions and constitutes a useful tool for food products engineering. We describe a novel experimental setup that allows screening of a large number of physical-chemical conditions in one measurement and the determination of cloud point temperatures both above and below ambient temperature. We use a simple method to avoid solvent evaporation and condensation, so that the setup can be used for solutions prepared with a volatile solvent. We present the operating parameter range and the precision of the measurement. The optical properties of the system are calibrated with solutions of known transmittance, and the determination of cloud point temperatures is validated on a standard non-ionic surfactant solution. Finally, we demonstrate the efficiency of the method by determining the phase diagram of a wheat protein extract, soluble in a water/ethanol mixture. Complemented with differential scanning calorimetry measurements, the liquid-liquid phase transition can be determined up to a protein concentration of 250 g/L, a range inaccessible with conventional methods for this protein extract

Insight into gluten structure in a mild chaotropic solvent by asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AsFlFFF) and evidence of non-covalent assemblies between glutenin and ω-gliadin

International audienceWheat gluten, one of the most complex viscoelastic protein networks in nature, is unique to get the specific texture of bread. Due to its complex protein composition, its insolubility in most solvents and the very high molar mass of half of the proteins (glutenin, the other half being gliadin), the architecture of the network is still not well understood. In this work, we have investigated model gluten protein extracts with contrasted compositions in glutenin and gliadin solubilized in a mild chaotropic solvent: ethanol/water (50/50 v/v). The samples display a liquid-liquid phase separation with an upper critical solution temperature that depends on the protein composition. The phase diagrams are consistent with the presence of supramolecular assemblies of proteins. To confirm the presence of these assemblies and fully characterize the objects dispersed in ethanol/water, we have used an asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AsFlFFF) setup coupled with differential refractive index, multi-angle light scattering and dynamic light scattering detections to probe very dilute protein suspensions. We have identified three classes of objects, with distinctive molar mass, characteristic size and conformation: protein monomers, polymeric structures, and very loose protein assemblies with molar mass larger than 2.10 6 g/mol. A molecular characterization of the species by size exclusion chromatography in a denaturing solvent shows that polymers and assemblies are mainly composed of glutenin and ω-gliadin. The high content of ω-gliadin, devoid of cysteines, indicates the importance of non-covalent interactions involved in protein assemblies and might play a major role in gluten rheolog

Phase separation dynamics of gluten protein mixtures

We investigate by time-resolved synchrotron ultra-small X-ray scattering the dynamics of liquid–liquid phase-separation (LLPS) of gluten protein suspensions following a temperature quench. Samples at a fixed concentration (237 mg ml−1) but with different protein compositions are investigated. In our experimental conditions, we show that fluid viscoelastic samples depleted in polymeric glutenin phase-separate following a spinodal decomposition process. We quantitatively probe the late stage coarsening that results from a competition between thermodynamics that speeds up the coarsening rate as the quench depth increases and transport that slows down the rate. For even deeper quenches, the even higher viscoelasticity of the continuous phase leads to a “quasi” arrested phase separation. Anomalous phase-separation dynamics is by contrast measured for a gel sample rich in glutenin, due to elastic constraints. This work illustrates the role of viscoelasticity in the dynamics of LLPS in protein dispersions