Limonia acidissima and Citrullus lanatus fruit seeds: Antimicrobial, thermal, structural, functional and protein identification study

An antimicrobial characterization along with thermal, structural, functional properties of L. acidissima and C. lanatus seeds were studied. Key proteins were identified in L. acidissima and C. lanatus seeds. The antimicrobial activity of L. acidissima protein hydrolysates was comparatively better than those of C. lanatus against the indicator strains used, i.e., Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia. The denaturation temperature for L. acidissima and C. lanatus protein hydrolysates were 92 and 72 °C, respectively. The FTIR analysis showed the presence of amide A, amide I, amide III and amide VI bands in the protein hydrolysates. The emulsifying activity index of the L. acidissima and C. lanatus seed protein hydrolysates were 53 and 29 m2/g, respectively. The emulsifying stability index for both hydrolysates was around 79%. The LCMS profile showed 4 proteins in L. acidisssima and 21 proteins in C. lanatus.