October 27/Loughborough, U.K./Journal of Technology & Science -- According to recent research published in the Journal of Food Science, "The generation of off-flavors in soybean homogenates such as n-hexanal via the lipoxygenase (LOX) pathway can be a problem in the processed food industry. Previous studies have examined the effect of using soybean varieties missing one or more of the three LOX isozymes on n-hexanal generation."
"A dynamic mathematical model of the soybean LOX pathway using ordinary differential equations was constructed using parameters estimated from existing data with the aim of predicting how n-hexanal generation could be reduced. Time-course simulations of LOX- beans were run and compared with experimental results. Model L-2, L-3, and L-12 beans were within the range relative to the wild type found experimentally, with L-13 and L-23 beans close to the experimental range. Model L-1 beans produced much more n-hexanal relative to the wild type than those in experiments. Sensitivity analysis indicates that reducing the estimated K-m parameter for LOX isozyme 3 (L-3) would improve the fit between model predictions and experimental results found in the literature. The model also predicts that increasing L-3 or reducing L-2 levels within beans may reduce n-hexanal generation. Practical Application: This work describes the use of mathematics to attempt to quantify the enzyme-catalyzed conversions of compounds in soybean homogenates into undesirable flavors, primarily from the compound n-hexanal," wrote N. Mellor and colleagues, University of Nottingham.