Abstract:
To enhance the solubility of rice bran protein (RBP) and thereby improve its application performance in food processing, the pH-driven method was employed in this study, under which RBP was treated at pH conditions of 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 10, 11, and 12, and structural and functional properties before and after modification were compared and analyzed. The results showed that the solubility of RBP was observed to be gradually increased with rising pH, with the optimal effect achieved at pH12, where a solubility of 70.57% was reached, representing a significant improvement of 68.85% compared to the untreated group (6.72%). The average particle size, absolute
ζ-potential value, and surface hydrophobicity of RBP were found to be significantly altered as the pH increased; after treatment at pH12, the average particle size was reduced to the minimum (140.47 nm), the absolute
ζ-potential value was increased to the maximum (14.8 mV), and the surface hydrophobicity was elevated to the highest value (2289), along with a marked enhancement in intrinsic fluorescence intensity and a red shift in the maximum emission wavelength. Following pH12 treatment, the relative content of
β-sheets in RBP was increased by 10.43%, while the relative contents of
α-helices and
β-turns were reduced by 3.29% and 9.13%, respectively. These findings indicate that depolymerization of RBP molecules can be induced and intermolecular electrostatic repulsion can be enhanced by the pH-driven method, thereby significantly improving its solubility. This study offers a new approach to promote the widespread application of RBP.