Multidimensional impact of diet composition on egg quality and function has become a research hotspot in the laying hen industry. However, there were relatively few reports on the effect of diet composition on the composition of egg white and its heat-induced gel behavior. Based on this, the system compared the differences in Roman egg white heat-induced gel behavior, protein composition, molecular conformation and molecular interaction under the dietary models of corn distillers’ grains, corn and soybean meal and flaxseed, revealing the potential influence mechanism of dietary composition on heat-induced gel behavior. The results indicated that the egg white protein gel under the corn and soybean meal diet pattern had the best gel properties, with hardness and water holding capacity significantly increased by 23.1% and 2.0% respectively compared to the corn distillers’ grains diet pattern. The improvement in the gel behavior might be attributed to the changes in the material composition of egg white proteins (increased protein and amino acid contents), protein aggregation state (reduced particle size and weakened aggregation), molecular structure (increased β-sheet relative content and decreased thermal denaturation temperature), and intermolecular interactions (enhanced hydrophobic interactions and disulfide bonds). These findings will provide a scientific basis for regulating the performance of egg heat-induced gel from the nutritional source of laying hens and for the development of customized egg products.

Skeletal muscle injuries are prone to induce fatigue, decrease resistance and imbalances in the body. Although ovalbumin (OVA) has such biological effect as promoting tissue development and immunomodulation, its impact on repairing skeletal muscle injuries has been rarely reported. In this study, a mouse model of muscle injury was constructed and found that OVA significantly increased muscle weight, muscle thickness, and exercise capacity in muscle-injured mice. Meanwhile, OVA improved the morphology of muscle tissues by reducing serum levels of urea nitrogen, creatine kinase, and lactate dehydrogenase, as well as decreasing the levels of inflammatory factors interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor α, and IL-6, respectively. In addition, transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses revealed that OVA could enhance muscle tissue morphology by upregulating the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-protein kinase B signaling pathway and improving amino acid metabolism through the upregulation of Col11a2, Ccn2, Thbs1, Tnc, Klf2, Bcl2l1, Adh3a1, and Rsad1. The study provided a theoretical foundation for understanding the molecular mechanisms in OVA-aided muscle injury repair.

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) remains a global nutritional challenge, necessitating effective and safe food-derived iron supplements. This study investigated the ameliorative effect and potential mechanism of iron-saturated ovotransferrin (OVT-Fe) on IDA mice. Results showed that OVT-Fe was significantly better than FeSO₄ in restoring hematological parameters and serum iron metabolism indexes in IDA mice under the same dose intervention. The hemoglobin content (158 ± 5.77 g/L) in H-OVT-Fe was not significantly different from that of normal mice (152.33 ± 7.23 g/L) (P > 0.05). Serum ferritin (SF) and serum iron (SI) levels were elevated by 64.06% and 67.06%, respectively, compared with those in IDA group. Meanwhile, OVT-Fe effectively alleviated the oxidative stress and inflammatory response triggered by IDA, as evidenced by significant increase in liver antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GSH-Px, CAT) activities, a 44.03% reduction in MDA content, and a decrease in pro-inflammatory factors IL-6, TNF-α and C-reactive protein (CRP) by more than 20%. Immunofluorescence and transcriptomics analysis showed that OVT-Fe effectively regulated iron metabolism by down-regulating the expression of duodenal iron transporter (DMT1, Dcytb and FPN), up-regulating the expression of hepcidin in liver, and inhibiting the expression of Tfrc in the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) signaling pathway. 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that OVT-Fe significantly altered the structure of gut microbiota, showing a decrease in the abundance of potentially pathogenic bacteria such as Mucispirillum and Escherichia-Shigella, and an enrichment of beneficial bacteria such as Muribaculaceae and Bifidobacterium. Pearson correlation analysis confirmed that these bacterial changes were significantly correlated with hematological parameters and SF and SI levels, suggesting that the improvement of intestinal microorganisms played an important role in the mechanism of action of OVT-Fe. In conclusion, OVT-Fe synergistically improved IDA through iron metabolism regulation and gut microbiota remodeling, highlighting its promise as a novel, multifunctional food-derived iron supplement.

Walnut meal, a key by-product of extracting oil from walnut kernels, contains abundant high-quality bioactive peptides. The molecular mechanism underlying the antioxidant effects of YWSPNDEQFR (YR-10), a novel antioxidant peptide found in walnut meal, remains unknown. The study examined the role of YR-10 in regulating oxidative damage induced by D-galactose in mice and by AAPH in HepG2 cells, focusing the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. Results analyses indicated that YR-10 enhanced gene expression in the NF-κB and TNF signaling pathways, while it suppressed the transcription of JAK, and STAT genes within the JAK/STAT pathway. Such modulation reduced the accumulation of peroxidative metabolites and inflammatory factors, thereby effectively decreasing oxidative damage. Furthermore, in vitro cell experiments and blocker inhibition experiments showed that the addition of YR-10 to AAPH-treated HepG2 cells produced an inhibitory effect on the expression of JAK and STAT proteins like that of JAK/STAT pathway blockers, thereby alleviating oxidative damage. In conclusion, YR-10 mitigated oxidative stress-induced damage by inhibiting the JAK/STAT pathway and enhancing antioxidant defenses.

Related research findings indicated that the hardness of the tail meat from red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) increased when responding to cold stress during the transportation. However, the effect of low temperature on crayfish muscle was still at the phenotype level, there were few studies on the molecular mechanism of crayfish muscle response to cold stress. The effect of cold stress on the tail meat of crayfish during simulated transportation (control and low temperature stress for 12 h (LT_12), 24 h (LT_24) and 36 h (LT_36) at 4 ℃) were investigated by integrated transcriptome and proteomics. The results showed that the hardness of crayfish meat increased after cold stress. Gene ontology (GO) analysis showed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) of crayfish coping with cold stress were mainly involved in metabolism and glycolysis. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) metabolic analysis found that the metabolic response to cold stress included changes in amino acids such as valine and isoleucine. Low temperature activated glycolysis and amino acid metabolism pathway as well as peroxisome pathway to maintain body balance. The significant increase in the expression of cytoskeletal protein-actin related genes such as β-actin and ACT1 might cause the increase of muscle hardness under stress.