Blending two or more materials to create better high-moisture meat analogues has been actively studied in the food science and technology field. Walnut protein is a high-quality plant-based protein resource, yet its full potential remains underexploited. Thus, this study focused on exploring the quality characteristics and fibrous structure formation mechanism of walnut protein (WP) and wheat gluten (WG) meat analogues during high-moisture extrusion cooking process. Results showed that the optimized WP and WG-blended high-moisture meat analogues exhibited a more pronounced anisotropic and oriented fibrous structure. The blending of WP and WG can protect the molecular chains from the thermal transition, and promote the aggregation of protein molecules mainly by enhancing the interaction between hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds, increasing the apparent viscosity and forming protein subunits with larger molecular weights (>100 kDa) to stabilize the newly formed conformation. Additionally, the content of α-helix was the highest among the secondary structures. This study provides a theoretical basis for the application of WG and WP to produce HMMAs with rich fibrous structures.

中文翻译：

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核桃蛋白和小麦面筋类肉在高水分挤压蒸煮过程中的品质特性和纤维结构形成机理


食品科学和技术领域积极研究将两种或多种材料混合以制造更好的高水分人造肉。核桃蛋白是一种高质量的植物性蛋白质资源，但其全部潜力仍未得到充分开发。因此，本研究重点探究核桃蛋白 （WP） 和小麦面筋 （WG） 人造肉在高水分挤压蒸煮过程中的品质特性和纤维结构形成机制。结果表明，优化的 WP 和 WG 混合的高水分人造肉表现出更明显的各向异性和取向纤维结构。WP 和 WG 的混合可以保护分子链免受热转变，主要通过增强疏水相互作用与氢键之间的相互作用，提高表观粘度并形成分子量更大的蛋白质亚基 （>100 kDa） 来稳定新形成的构象，从而促进蛋白质分子的聚集。此外，α-螺旋的含量在二级结构中最高。本研究为应用 WG 和 WP 生产具有丰富纤维结构的 HMMA 提供了理论依据。