Herbalife Manufacturing, LLC, 20481 Crescent Bay Drive, Lake Forest, CA 92630, USA.
Herbalife Nutrition, 990 West 190th Street, Torrance, CA 90502, USA.
J AOAC Int. 2021 Jun 12;104(3):757-764. doi: 10.1093/jaoacint/qsaa158.
Protein powder identification presents a challenge in quality control. There is current deliberation of the specificity of methods for the identification of milk proteins, and the consensus identification method of whey protein from the United States Pharmacopeia Food Chemical Codex relies on a combined analysis of the testing of ash, fat, lactose, loss on drying, and protein. These methods are non-specific. Milk and whey proteins both contain background DNA content. Both milk and whey proteins retain source DNA (cow), but also have bacterial DNA from natural flora, the dairy plant, and in whey protein, the cheesemaking process. The DNA in these materials is retained post-processing, even after the pasteurization process.
By utilizing 16S metagenomics, the bacterial DNA in protein powders can be sequenced and cross-referenced to a curated library to ultimately create a microbiome profile of these raw materials. This microbiome can be measured for alpha and beta diversity, specifically how many and which species of bacteria are present.
Using 16S metagenomics, we measure alpha and beta diversity of the microbiome profile of each protein powder and use principle coordinate analysis to produce differential groupings, providing a novel identification method for raw materials.
In this study, we demonstrate that the microbiome of cow proteins can be used for raw material identification, as the microbiome of milk and whey proteins differ significantly. We also demonstrate that the microbiome of whey protein concentrate can differ from supplier to supplier.
Microbiome profiling by 16S metagenomics can be an important forensic tool for quality control.
Principle Coordinate Analysis can be used as a statistical tool for protein differentiation using the protein microbiome.
蛋白粉的鉴定在质量控制方面提出了挑战。目前正在讨论美国药典食品化学法典中用于鉴定乳蛋白的方法的特异性，并且依赖于对灰分、脂肪、乳糖、干燥失重和蛋白质进行综合分析的乳清蛋白美国共识鉴定方法。这些方法不具有特异性。牛奶和乳清蛋白都含有背景 DNA 含量。牛奶和乳清蛋白都保留了源 DNA（奶牛），但也具有来自天然菌群、乳制品厂的细菌 DNA，并且在乳清蛋白中，还具有干酪制作过程中的细菌 DNA。这些材料中的 DNA 在加工后甚至在巴氏消毒过程后仍然保留。
通过利用 16S 宏基因组学，可以对蛋白粉中的细菌 DNA 进行测序，并与经过精心整理的文库进行交叉引用，最终创建这些原材料的微生物组图谱。可以对该微生物组进行α和β多样性的测量，特别是存在多少和哪些种类的细菌。
使用 16S 宏基因组学，我们测量每个蛋白粉的微生物组图谱的α和β多样性，并使用主坐标分析产生差异分组，为原材料提供一种新颖的鉴定方法。
在这项研究中，我们证明了牛蛋白的微生物组可用于原材料鉴定，因为牛奶和乳清蛋白的微生物组差异很大。我们还证明了乳清蛋白浓缩物的微生物组可以因供应商而异。
16S 宏基因组学的微生物组分析可以成为质量控制的重要法医工具。
主坐标分析可以用作使用蛋白质微生物组进行蛋白质区分的统计工具。
