With decreasing available land and fresh-water resources, the oceans become attractive alternatives for the production of valuable biomass, comparable to terrestrial crops. Seaweed cultivation for food, chemicals, and fuels is already under intensive development, yet efficient technologies for separation of major components are still missing. We report a food-grade process for the extraction of proteins from a green macroalga, Ulva sp., using high-voltage pulsed electric field (PEF) cell-membrane permeabilization, coupled with mechanical pressing to separate liquid and solid phases. We showed that a PEF treatment, at 247 kJ/kg fresh Ulva, delivered through 50 pulses of 50 kV, applied at a 70.3 mm electrode gap on the 140 g fresh weight of Ulva sp., resulted in an ∼7-fold increase in the total protein extraction yield compared to extraction by osmotic shock. The PEF extract of 20% protein content showed 10–20 times higher antioxidant capacity than β-Lactoglobulin (β-Lg), bovine serum albumin, and potato protein isolates. The protein concentration per dry mass in the residual biomass after PEF treatment was increased compared to the control because of the removal of additional nonprotein compounds from the biomass during the extraction process. These results provide currently missing information and technological development for the use of macroalgae as a source of protein for promoting sustainable human nutrition and health.

中文翻译：

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通过高压脉冲电场和机械压力从绿色海洋Macroalga Ulva sp。中提取的功能蛋白浓缩物

随着可用土地和淡水资源的减少，海洋已成为生产与陆地作物相当的有价值的生物质的有吸引力的替代方案。用于食物，化学药品和燃料的海藻养殖已经在大力开发中，但是仍然缺少用于分离主要成分的有效技术。我们报告了使用高压脉冲电场（PEF）细胞膜通透性，再加上机械压榨以分离液相和固相，从绿色大型藻类（Ulva sp。）中提取蛋白质的食品级工艺。我们显示，在140 g新鲜重量的Ulva上以70.3 mm的电极间隙施加了PEF处理，通过50个50 kV脉冲以247 kJ / kg新鲜Ulva进行了处理与通过渗透休克提取相比，总蛋白提取率提高了约7倍。蛋白质含量为20％的PEF提取物的抗氧化能力比β-乳球蛋白（β-Lg），牛血清白蛋白和马铃薯分离蛋白高10-20倍。与对照组相比，PEF处理后残留生物质中每干质量的蛋白质浓度增加，这是因为在提取过程中从生物质中去除了其他非蛋白质化合物。这些结果为使用巨藻作为促进可持续人类营养和健康的蛋白质来源提供了目前缺少的信息和技术发展。