Effects of Microwave and Ultrasound Assisted Extraction on the Recovery of Soy Proteins for Soy Allergen Detection

Abstract

The extraction of soy proteins for soy allergen detections is conventionally achieved with PBS buffer for at least 2 h at room temperature or 4 °C. This method has been reported to be inefficient due to time consumption and inadequate protein extraction resulting in false negative allergen detection and mislabeling of foods containing allergenic proteins. This study investigated the application of microwave (MAE) and ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) techniques to extract and improve recovery of allergens from various soy matrices. Soy proteins were extracted from raw soy flour, soy protein isolate (SPI) and soy milk using MAE at 60, 70, and 100 °C for 5 and 10 min and UAE at 4 and 23 °C for extraction times of 1, 5, and 10 min with PBS, Laemmli and urea buffers. Extracts were analyzed for total proteins, protein profile, and antibody-based detection (ELISA) of soy proteins. Conventional extraction with each of the buffers was used as controls. Overall, proteins recovered from MAE and UAE samples were higher than recoveries from the controls in all soy matrices. Under all extraction conditions, Laemmli and urea buffer recovered more proteins than PBS. Electrophoresis analysis of protein showed bands around 75, 50, and 33 kDa indicating the presence of soy allergenic proteins β-conglycinin and glycinin, in all samples. Using sandwich ELISA, control and UAE extracts resulted in high soy protein detection but this reduced in MAE extracts.

Keywords: allergenic protein extraction; food allergen; microwave-assisted extraction; soy protein; ultrasound-assisted extraction.