Thermomechanical Stress Analysis of Hydrated Vital Gluten with Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear Rheology.

Vital gluten is increasingly researched as a non-food product for biodegradable materials. During processing, the protein network is confronted with increased thermal and mechanical stress, altering the network characteristics. With the prospect of using the protein for materials beyond food, it is important to understand the mechanical properties at various processing temperatures.

Thermally induced gluten modification observed with rheology and spectroscopies.

The protein vital gluten is mainly used for food while interest for non-food applications, like biodegradable materials, increases. In general, the structure and functionality of proteins is highly dependent on thermal treatments during production or modification. This study presents conformational changes and corresponding rheological effects of vital wheat gluten depending on temperature.

Interplay between Confinement and Drag Forces Determine the Fate of Amyloid Fibrils.

The fine interplay between the simultaneous stretching and confinement of amyloid fibrils is probed by combining a microcapillary setup with atomic force microscopy. Single-molecule statistics reveal how the stretching of fibrils changed from force to confinement dominated at different length scales. System order, however, is solely ruled by confinement.