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Sesame Protein
Sesame Protein
MiniReview
Sesame proteins
Ekasit Onsaard
Indigenous Food Research and Industrial Development Unit, Faculty of Agriculture, Ubonratchathani
University, Warinchumrap, Ubonratchathani, 34190, Thailand
Article history
Abstract
Sesame (Sesamum indicm L.) is one of the worlds most important oil seed crops. Apart from
being an important oilseed source, sesame seed is a potential source of proteins. This article
is a review of sesame protein, including seed structure, chemical composition, extraction,
characteristics, functional properties and modification of sesame protein. Sesame seed
structure, chemical composition, sesame seed cross-section and proximate composition have
also been reviewed. For sesame protein extraction, there are many reports on various methods
including alkaline or salt extraction and isoelectric precipitation (pI) or aqueous extraction.
For characteristics of sesame proteins, many studies have characterized the main proteins in
sesame which are albumin and globulin. Some functional properties of sesame protein and the
influence of various processing factors and conditions are also reviewed in the article. Lastly,
the article reviews the proteolytic enzyme modification of proteins and shows that it is an
effective way to improve the various functional properties of proteins and to increase the field
of application of proteins.
Keywords
Sesame protein
sesame meal
functional properties
protein hydrolysates
Introduction
Sesame seed (Sesamum indicm L.) is an important
oil seed crop. Sesame is grown in tropical zones as
well as in temperate zones between latitudes 40oN and
40oS. It has been cultivated for centuries, especially
in Asia and Africa. In 2009, the world production
of sesame seed was 3,976,968 tons, and the major
production area were Asia (2,489,518 tons) and
Africa (1,316,690 tons), constituting about 62.6%
and 33.1% of the total world production (FAOSTAT,
2011). Apart from being an important source of
edible oil, sesame seeds and kernels are used for
the preparation of sweets, confectionary and bakery
products (Salunkhe et al., 1992).
Sesame seed contains 40-50% oil, 20-25% protein,
20-25% carbohydrate and 5-6% ash (Salunkhe et al.,
1992). Because of its composition, it has become one
of the main sources of edible oil. It is also a good
source of protein. Some studies have already been
done showing how to prepare sesame protein from
sesame meal using various methods of alkaline or salt
extraction and isoelectric precipitation (pI) (Dench et
al., 1981; Rivas et al., 1981; Inyang and Iduh, 1996;
Gandhi and Srivastava, 2007; Onsaard et al., 2010;
Cano-Medina et al., 2011) or aqueous enzymatic
sesame protein extraction (Latif and Anwar, 2011).
The work on sesame protein has mostly reported
about solubility, extractability of the protein as a
*Corresponding author.
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
1288
surface area and density are 1.56 mm, 7.80 mm2 and
1224 kgm-3, respectively. The coefficient of friction
varies from 0.39 on glass to 0.54 on plywood, while
the angle of response is 32.0o (Tunde-Akintunde
and Akintunde, 2004). Sesame seed consists of a
spermoderm, endosperm and cotyledon. The outer
epidermis composes a single layer of cells which
contain a mass of calcium oxalate crystals in the outer
ends of the cells. The endosperm consists of two to
five cell layers with thick rigid walls and is separated
from the spermoderm by a membrane. These cells
contain oil drops and small aleurone grains. The
cotyledon consists of isodiametric cells which contain
oil drops and aleurone grains (Figure 1).
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Chemical
composition
Moisture (%)
Fat (%)
Protein (%)
Ash (%)
Fiber (%)
Carbohydrate
(by difference)
Nzikou et al.
(2009)4
5.70
54.00
20.00
3.70
3.20
13.40
1290
Amino acid
(g./16 g of N)
Cystine
Isoleucine
Leucine
Lysine
Methionine
Phenylalanin
Tyrosine
Threonine
Tryptophan
Valine
Aspartic acid
Glutamic acid
Serine
Arginine
Alanine
Histidine
Glycine
Proline
Rivas et al
(1981)2
2.2
4.1
7.1
3.8
3.7
6.0
5.1
4.0
-
4.7
7.3
14.0
4.0
9.3
5.1
2.3
7.3
-
-
4.0-4.1
6.6-6.7
2.2-2.4
2.1-3.2
4.6-4.8
3.6-3.9
3.6-3.7
-
4.9-5.2
7.0-8.0
13.5-14.5
4.1-4.3
11.2-11.5
4.0-4.2
2.5-2.6
3.9-4.0
5.7-5.9
-
3.9
6.7
2.6
2.5
4.5
3.7
3.4
-
4.7
8.2
16.2
4.2
12.5
3.4
2.4
4.8
7.8
0.8
3.6
6.6
2.1
2.9
4.2
3.7
3.3
1.8
4.6
7.3
20.3
4.2
11.7
4.3
2.1
8.9
4.6
FAO/WHO
4.00
7.0
5.5
4.0
1.0
5.0
-
Source: 1Johnson (1979); 2Rivas et al.(1981); 3Brito and NEz (1982); 4El-Adawy (1997)
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Table 3. Water and oil holding capacity and bulk density of sesame protein isolate (SPI) and
soy protein isolate
Sample
SPI
Soy protein
isolate
1292
1293
1294
1295
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