IBIE - 2022 Special Edition & Show Preview - 31

BAKING & SNACK PRO TIPS
faster INNOVATION
Pro Tip: Bioformatics provide
actionable information about how
proteins function in formulations.
by Harrison Helmick
In a world increasingly characterized by the five Vs of
big data - volume, variety, veracity, velocity and value
- how can your research and design team keep up?
One tool that is helping automate the discovery
of how proteins function based on their structure is
bioinformatics, a field that uses software to develop
actionable information from biological data.
These tools automatically scan the structure of
a protein generated from an amino acid sequence
and identify key features and bonding interactions
that relate to how the protein will function. This
technology has been applied to find new candidates
for proteins used in pharmaceuticals, greatly
reducing the time associated with characterizing
proteins in a lab.
In food, bioinformatics is used to find how protein
interacts with lipids and carbohydrates, and it provides
insight on structural change during processing.
You can get started using these tools today by
finding your protein amino acid sequence in the
National Center for Biotechnology Information database,
modeling it online with SWISS MODEL and
downloading Chimera to analyze your .pdb file.
Once you have your model open in Chimera, you
can analyze it for properties, including surface hydrophobicity,
electrostatic potential, hydrogen bonding
and the number of disulfide bonds. These properties
are all important factors that influence how strong of
a gel or emulsion your new protein will form.
While you don't need knowledge of computer
coding to use any of these resources, if you partner
with some experts in Python, you can develop
code to extract these key properties at the click of
a button.
With virtually limitless new proteins to choose
from, these tools can help you quickly screen for
proteins that will make the best gels or emulsions
before you even request a sample.
This can help you stay ahead of rapidly changing
consumer demands. Next time you need to replace a
key ingredient, bioinformatics can point you to a few
candidates to start baking with right away.
In our work, the surface hydrophobicity has been
well-correlated with the emulsion activity
index of proteins, which allowed for the
rapid identification of new potential plantbased
emulsifiers and how those compare
to the proteins in eggs.
Editor's Note: Baking & Snack Pro Tips is
a weekly online column featuring expert advice from
leaders in the baking industry. Harrison Helmick is a
PhD candidate at Purdue University. His research is
conducted with the support of Jozef Kokini, Andrea
Liceaga and Arun Bhunia. His columns detail his
research into plant-based proteins. Follow his research
at BakSci.com, and find more of his columns at
bakingbusiness.com.
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INSIDE IBIE | 31
Harrison Helmick
http://www.bakingbusiness.com
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