Structural characteristics and rheological properties of ovalbumin-gum arabic complex coacervates

After formation of the ovalbumin (OVA)-gum arabic (GA) complex coacervates, a more ordered crystal structure was obtained, and the protein denaturation temperature increased from 72 to 96 °C. GA can reduce the pH-induced conformational perturbations of ovalbumin. The presence of GA improved the stability of the α-helix and β-turn regions against pH, but showed less influence on the random coil and β-sheet domains. The complex coacervates showed the highest viscosity value at pH 3.7 compared with the other pH values tested (4.0, 3.4, 3.0, 2.7) due to the stronger interactions of OVA and GA. A large thixotropic loop was observed for the coacervate obtained at pH 3.7 compared with that obtained at pH 4.0. Moreover, the salt concentration and OVA:GA ratio influenced the rheological properties by affecting the structure and composition of the complexes. A stronger interaction between OVA and GA led to greater viscoelastic properties.