Applied Food Biotechnology is the first Iranian journal that considers biotechnological aspects of food sciences. As a pioneer, it has grown very fast in recent years and has indexed in reputable international databases such as Web of Sciences and Scopus, other than a national database accredited by the Ministry of Health, Science, Research and Technology of Iran as well as Ministry of Health and Medical Education. Several scientists in Iran and from abroad have been engaged in the journal as author, reviewer, and editorial team member. Applied Food Biotechnology has had impact factor of 1.4 since July 2023. The editorial team have been trying to make a broad audience in the globe and develop annual citations by publication of outstanding articles in the journal. To this regard, more than 80% of submissions have been rejected in the journal in 2023, due to their not-qualified writing, lack of novelty, inappropriate methodology etc. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of manuscripts from outstanding authors were submitted to the journal during 2021-2022. Although, rate of submission was significantly decreased during this period of time, which seems to be related to the post-corona era and the damage to human society during 2020-2021. We are going to help the associated researchers to adhere the novel findings in applied food biotechnology in the world. The expert editorial board invites all professional scientists in the field of food biotechnology to join in the Applied Food Biotechnology journal by submission of original article, review article, meta-analysis and systematic review.

Background and Objective: Whey permeate powder is widely used in technologies of various line groups of food products, but the major limiting factor of its use is its high ash content. The aim of this study was to establish efficiency of ash decrease and change of mineral profile at various stages of production for producing demineralized whey permeate powder appropriate for further use in technologies of lactose.

Material and Methods: Experiments were carried out based on the referee method and the common methods used in research practice. In this study, cheese whey and its concentrates and permeates achieved in the process of ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, electrodialysis, vacuum-evaporating and spray drying were used.

Results and Conclusion: Ultrafiltration made it possible to partially remove Ca²⁺, total phosphorus and Mg²⁺ from cheese whey and nanofiltration was effective in partially remove of K⁺, Ca²⁺, Fe²⁺, Mg²⁺, Cu²⁺, Cl^- and total phosphorus from ultrafiltration-permeates. Use of polymer membranes made it possible to prepare nanofiltration-concentrates with majorly lactose and increase the efficiency of electrodialysis due to their high permeability relative to water as well as their ability to eliminate proteins and partially ions of mineral salts. The mass fraction of ash in the final product decreased by 93.0%, compared to cheese whey. Furthermore, Na⁺ and K⁺ decreased by 89-94%, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ decreased by 60-75%, the total phosphorus decreased by 78% and chlorides decreased by 70%. Results allow justifying the technological operation sequence to make products appropriate for further uses as raw materials for highly purified lactose.

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background and Objective: Lactiplantibacillus plantarum COY2906 was isolated from virgin coconut oil, a strain known for its production of plantaricin which acts as a bio-preservative. The aim of this study was to investigate specific plantaricin genes of plnA, plnEF, plnN, plnJ and plnK, precipitate the plantaricin with ammonium sulfate and assess antimicrobial activity of the crude plantaricin.

Material and Methods: Growth analysis of strain COY2906 was monitored using spectrophotometer. Amplification and detection of gene targets were carried out using real-time polymerase chain reaction (Real-Time PCR). Crude plantaricin was assessed using 40 and 70% (w/v) ammonium sulphate. Antimicrobial activity was assessed using well-diffusion assay and the molecular mass of partially purified protein was assessed using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS).

Results and Conclusion: The plantarum strain COY2906 was cultured in MRS broth at 37 °C under anaerobic conditions and harvested after 19 h or in the middle of the stationary phase to maximize production of plantaricin. Relative expression level of plnA, plnEF, plnN and plnJ were over-expressed, while that of plnK was not. To achieve plantaricin, cell-free supernatant was precipitated with 40 and 70% ammonium sulphate, resulting in crude protein concentrations of 41.33 and 148 µg.ml^-1, respectively. Crude protein had no antimicrobial activities, cell-free supernatant of the strain COY2906 showed a comparable antimicrobial efficacy to that of sodium ampicillin at 100 µg.ml^-1. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ioniza-tion mass spectrometry spectrum did not show the presence of plantaricin A, plantaricin EF, plantaricin N and plantaricin J after precipitation with 70% ammonium sulphate. However, plantaricin K was detected in the spectrum. Regarding the results, further analysis on the detection of plantaricin is recommended using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry. This may involve modifying the solvent or increasing concentration of ammonium sulphate to assess its activities and characteristics.

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background and Objective: Nowadays, there are a wide variety of probiotic beverages made from animal-derived ingredients that contain beneficial microorganisms for human health. In contrast, probiotic beverages made from plant-based sources are much less common, despite their organic acids, which are biologically active substances. The aim of the study was to quantitatively assess the concentration of secondary metabolites of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria in a fermented grain drinks, as well as sensory characteristics of the drinks.

Material and Methods: Probiotic beverage samples were produced wheat as their primary grain ingredient. Fermentation process involved use of various lactic acid bacteria strains, including Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus buchneri, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus fermentum as well as various strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts. Additionally, commercially manufactured soft drinks made from grain-based ingredients were used as the basis for the comparison. Contents and concentrations of organic acids were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography, following the guidelines by the government standard. This technique involved separation of specific organic acids on a solid support using reversed-phase mechanism.

Results and Conclusion: The probiotic wheat drink contained 1300 mg.dm^-3 lactic acid, suggesting the presence of lactic acid fermentation. Detection of citric and succinic acids of respectively 80 and 152 mg.dm^-3 indicated heteroenzymatic nature of lactic acid fermentation. Therefore, development of aromas described as clove, fruity and banana-like was expected, generally considered favorable in the context of probiotic wheat drinks. Data make it possible to predict creation of the flavor profiles of fermented drinks from vegetable raw materials using complex combinations of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts.

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background and Objective One of the major challenges of linking enzymes to insoluble support matrices is the use of non-naturally occurring support matrices that are expensive and not readily accessible, which most times are not easy to handle with the process needing several steps. Therefore, naturally-occurring materials that are cheap, available and need a little or no modifications with the potentials to act as support matrices for enzyme immobilization were investigated.

Material and Methods: In this study, coconut fibers, pseudo stems of banana and plaster of Paris luffa sponges as appropriate carriers for the immobilization of pectinase produced by Aspegillus niger FTR 002 were investigated and purified using chromatographic techniques, physical adsorption and covalent bonding with glutaraldehyde. Characteristics of native and immobilized enzyme preparations were studied and then used in the clarification of juice using packed-bed column reactor and standard procedures.

Results and Conclusion: Of the four materials in this study, sponge included the highest immobilization rate. Free and sponge-immobilized pectinase preparations were characterized and results recorded a temperature optimum of 50 °C for the two enzyme preparations. A shift in pH optima from 6.0 to 5.0 by the pectinase was observed after immobilization on sponge. The K_m and V_max of the free and immobilized pectinases included 2.33 mM and 0.018 µM/min and 1.612 mM and 0.019 µM/min respectively. Reusability studies showed that the immobilized enzyme included approximately 55% of its initial activity after 15 repeated cycles in batch operation. Orange juice clarification using sponge-immobilized pectinase using packed-bed column reactor at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min showed that the immobilized catalyst included 40% of its clarification capacity after 80 h of continuous operation. These findings indicate that the pectinase immobilized on sponge includes promising potentials as a clarifying catalyst in fruit-juice industries.

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background and Objective: Screening of lactic acid bacteria for the production of gamma-amino-butyric acid is important due to its pharmacological functions. In this study, isolation and characterization of lactic acid bacteria from Budu fish, an endemic fish to West Sumatra, Indonesia, have been investigated and their gamma amino butyric acid-producing potentials were identified

Material and Methods: The research method was as follows: lactic acid bacteria was isolated from Budu fish bought randomly from a traditional market in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Isolates were characterized morphologically and biochemically. Gram+ isolates were investigated for their capability to produce gamma-amino-butyric acid using thin-layer chromatography. Gamma-amino-butyric acid-positive strains were quantitatively analyzed using spectrometry method. Of the five samples, the highest gamma-amino-butyric acid production was reported in one sample of IB2C isolate. The selected isolates of lactic acid bacteria were molecularly identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Effects of incubation time (20, 40 and 60 h) and monosodium glutamate concentrations (2, 4 and 6%) were investigated on gamma-amino-butyric acid-production strains.

Results and Conclusion: Three isolates were selected for the production of gamma-amino-butyric acid in de Mann Rogosa Sharpe broth containing 1% monosodium glutamate. Semiquantitative analysis via pre-staining paper chromatography was carried out to identify the highest gamma amino butyric acid-producing lactic acid bacteria. The highest gamma-amino-butyric acid level of 22.5 mg.ml^-1 was achieved using 60 h of incubation and 6% of monosodium glutamate concentration in de Mann Rogosa Sharpe broth. The IB2c isolates were Gram+, catalase-, homofermentative and able to utilize various carbon sources. It inhibited growth of Escherichia coli O₁₅₇, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella enteritidis. The IB2C was further characterized molecularly using 16S rRNA sequencing gene. Results were identified as Lentilactobacillus parabuchneri strain M1-40. A 97.69% similarity of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Budu fish with Lentilactobacillus. parabuchneri indicates probiotic use of the gamma-amino butyric acid-producing lactic acid bacteria.