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Consumers’ attitudes toward more plant-based components in their diet has greatly driven the exploration of functional plant proteins. The aim of this study was to systematically investigate the structural and functional properties, nutritional and aromatic profiles, and in vitro digestion of protein fractions from the underexploited lentil grain. Albumin (LA), globulin (LG), and its subunits legumin (LL) and vicilin (LV) were fractionated from red lentil flour through alkaline extraction–isoelectric precipitation and/or different salt extractions. LA and LV exhibited unique structural properties (more β-sheet and α-helix structures), higher solubility (almost 100% at pH 7.0), and foaming capacity (>200% at pH 7.0), while LG exhibited better emulsifying properties. LA showed a distinct aromatic profile including high numbers of volatile compounds, especially alcohols, esters, and acids. After in vitro gastric-intestinal digestion, the hydrolysis degree of LA (24.25%) was the lowest, owing to the presence of major antinutritional factors.

A novel synbiotic multiparticulate microparticle containing alginate oligosaccharide (AOS), chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) and Bifidobacterium longum CICC 6259 was produced in the current study to expand the synbiotic industrial applications. The influences of these treatments on encapsulation yield, size, morphology, protective effect and stability of microcapsules and on mice gut microbiome were studied in vitro and in vivo. In vitro experiments detected no significant difference (P > 0.05) in encapsulation yield with different types of microcapsules. However, the microcapsule diameter of marine oligosaccharide was approximately 60 lm greater, and these microcapsules increased the number of surviving cells by more than 3 log cfu/g after treatment with simulated gastrointestinal juices, compared to basic alginate microcapsules. In vivo, these microcapsules significantly increased the content of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus and reduced the content of Enterococcus and Escherichia in mice gut microbiome. Marine oligosaccharide probiotic microcapsules are promising as a novel functional food ingredient.