Two Statistical Tools for Assessing Functionality and Protein Characteristics of Different Fava Bean (Vicia faba L.) Ingredients

Abstract

Fava bean (Vicia faba L.) is a promising source of proteins that can be potentially used as nutritional and/or functional agents for industrial food applications. Fava ingredients are industrially produced, modified, and utilized for food applications. Their processing conditions influence physico-chemical protein properties that further impact ingredient functionality. To design a functionally suitable ingredient, an understanding of the interrelationships between different properties is essential. Hence, this work aimed to assess two statistical analytical tools, Pearson’s correlation and Principal Component Analysis (PCA), for investigating the role of the process conditions of fava ingredients on their functional and protein properties. Fava concentrates were processed by pH (2, 4, 6.4 and 11), temperature (55, 75 and 95 ∘C) and treatment duration (30 and 360 min) into different modified ingredients. These were utilized under two application conditions (pH 4 and 7), and their foam and emulsion properties as well as their ingredient characteristics (charge, solubility, and intrinsic fluorescence) were measured. The results show that foam and emulsion properties are not correlated to each other. They are associated with different protein and non-protein attributes as fava concentrate is a multi-component matrix. Importantly, it is found that the results from the two statistical tools are not fully comparable but do complement each other. This highlights that both statistical analytical tools are equally important for a comprehensive understanding of the impact of process conditions on different properties and the interrelationships between them. Therefore, it is recommended to use Pearson’s correlation and principal component analysis in future investigations of new plant-based proteins.

Survey on Methods for Investigating Protein Functionality and Related Molecular Characteristics

“…Protein hydrophobicity detected by fluorescent probes has been associated with emulsifying properties [39] and with foaming properties [7,25,30]. Studies have been conducted for protein isolates, which are relatively pure proteins, while other studies are on flours or concentrates that are multicomponent in character [97]. Thus, their functional properties are likely dependent on the presence of other components.…”

“…Overall, understanding the structure-functional relationship between proteins at food utilization conditions could give an idea of the functional potential of the proteins. Some studies report experimental set-ups to investigate the relationships between structure and functionality [6,[97][98][99]. As seen in Figure 3, in the research approach towards understanding of functionality and the related molecular characteristics, there are four basic elements: (1) functional utilization of the ingredient in concern, (2) functional evaluation of the ingredient using instrumental techniques explained in the sections above, (3) evaluation of the molecular characterization concerning proteins, and finally (4) using data analytical techniques to establish a screening protein toolbox, which is an assembling of methods and instrumentation for obtaining information on protein structure modification and strategies for further in-depth investigations of both structural and functional changes.…”

“…As seen in Figure 3, in the research approach towards understanding of functionality and the related molecular characteristics, there are four basic elements: (1) functional utilization of the ingredient in concern, (2) functional evaluation of the ingredient using instrumental techniques explained in the sections above, (3) evaluation of the molecular characterization concerning proteins, and finally (4) using data analytical techniques to establish a screening protein toolbox, which is an assembling of methods and instrumentation for obtaining information on protein structure modification and strategies for further in-depth investigations of both structural and functional changes. For instance, a recent study showed the importance of using statistical analytical tools (PCA and Pearson's correlation) for a large set of data obtained from fava bean concentrates processed by different process conditions [97]. Considering how the structure affects the functional role of proteins, it will be interesting to classify different proteins using the toolbox.…”

Processing Effects on Protein Structure and Physicochemical Properties

“…To end our story on processing effects on protein structure and physicochemical properties, the concept of a protein method toolbox and the importance of using the right statistical analytical tools is presented in a review [ 7 ] and a highlighted communication [ 8 ]. The review provides a tangible overview of the methods currently available for determining protein functionality and related molecular characteristics.…”

“…We suggest that a protein analytical toolbox that couples different chemical, physical and spectroscopic analyses in relation to protein functionality and molecular characterization will improve the rational design of different protein ingredients [ 7 ]. As an example, the importance of using two statistical analytical tools, PCA and Pearson’s correlation, for a large set of data obtained from fava bean concentrates processed by different process conditions [ 8 ] supports the need of such a toolbox. In this study [ 8 ], fava bean concentrates were processed at various pH (2, 4, 6.4 and 11), temperature (55, 75 and 95 °C) and treatment duration (30 and 360 min) to obtain different ingredients that were tested at two conditions (pH 4 and 7) for their foam and emulsion properties and correlated to their molecular characteristics (charge, solubility and intrinsic fluorescence).…”