Characterization of Peanut Oil Bodies Integral Proteins, Lipids, and Their Associated Phytochemicals

A microscopic image of a section of a peanut seed shows that oil bodies (OBs) are a small droplet of oil that is dispersed throughout the whole seed. The protein profile of peanut's OBs recovered using the aqueous extraction method at different pH was found to have 2 oleosin isoforms of 14 and 16 kDa. Moreover, OBs essential amino acids are 1.52 higher than those in the PPI. Oleic acid and linoleic acid are the major fatty acids in both cold press peanut oil and OBs regardless of pH. Tocopherol content went from 270.76 to 278.2 mg/g when pH got increased. δ-Tocopherols are slightly associated with peanut OBs, as it was resistant to the alkaline washing; however, α-tocopherols were discovered to be weakly associable. On the contrary, phytosterols content decreased when pH got increased, with 631.49 μg/g for pH 6.8 and 614.96 μg/g for pH 11.0.

Peanut oil is widely used in food industries in the form of emulsified oil. OBs can be presented as a better alternative solution, which is stable emulsified oil, with high content of antioxidant and phytosterols. Our results showed that peanut OBs are rich in nutritional components such as essential amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E, and phytosterols. Moreover, peanut OBs are surrounded with 2 oleosin isoforms and caleosin, which offer more stability to the emulsion system. Thus, peanut OBs can be perfect for food like mayonnaise and vinaigrettes products in the form of encapsulated oil with high content of vitamin E.