Various protein cross-linking reactions leading to molecular polymerization and covalent aggregates have been described in processed foods. They are an undesired side effect of processes designed to reduce bacterial load, extend shelf life, and modify technological properties, as well as being an expected result of treatments designed to modify raw material texture and function. Although the formation of these products is known to affect the sensory and technological properties of foods, the corresponding cross-linking reactions and resulting protein polymers have not yet undergone detailed molecular characterization. This is essential for describing how their generation can be related to food processing conditions and quality parameters. Due to the complex structure of cross-linked species, bottom-up proteomic procedures developed to characterize various amino acid modifications associated with food processing conditions currently offer a limited molecular description of bridged peptide structures. Recent progress in cross-linking mass spectrometry for the topological characterization of protein complexes has facilitated the development of various proteomic methods and bioinformatic tools for unveiling bridged species, which can now also be used for the detailed molecular characterization of polymeric cross-linked products in processed foods. We here examine their benefits and limitations in terms of evaluating cross-linked food proteins and propose future scenarios for application in foodomics. They offer potential for understanding the protein cross-linking formation mechanisms in processed foods, and how the inherent beneficial properties of treated foodstuffs can be preserved or enhanced.

中文翻译：

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食品蛋白质中的交联反应及其检测的蛋白质组学方法

已在加工食品中描述了导致分子聚合和共价聚集的各种蛋白质交联反应。它们是旨在减少细菌负荷、延长保质期和改变技术特性的过程的不良副作用，也是旨在改变原材料质地和功能的处理的预期结果。尽管已知这些产物的形成会影响食品的感官和技术特性，但相应的交联反应和由此产生的蛋白质聚合物尚未经过详细的分子表征。这对于描述它们的生成如何与食品加工条件和质量参数相关是必不可少的。由于交联物种的复杂结构，开发用于表征与食品加工条件相关的各种氨基酸修饰的自下而上蛋白质组学程序目前提供了桥接肽结构的有限分子描述。用于蛋白质复合物拓扑表征的交联质谱法的最新进展促进了各种蛋白质组学方法和生物信息学工具的发展，用于揭示桥接物种，现在也可用于聚合物交联产品在加工过程中的详细分子表征食物。我们在这里检查它们在评估交联食物蛋白方面的优势和局限性，并提出未来在食品组学中的应用场景。它们为了解加工食品中蛋白质交联形成机制提供了潜力，