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Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a popular and valuable fruit in Malaysia. The present study aims to determine the proximate composition, mineral contents and functional properties of jackfruit seed powder (JSP) of Mastura cultivar and assess the toxicity of the jackfruit seed crude extract using embryonic zebrafish model. The proximate analysis results obtained showed that the JSP had 69.39% carbohydrate, 13.67% protein, 10.78% moisture, 2.41% ash, 0.75% fat and 3.00% crude fiber. The energy value reported was 345 kcal/100 g. Most abundant mineral found in the JSP was potassium (7.69 mg/g) followed by phosphorus (1.29 mg/g), magnesium (1.03 mg/g), calcium (0.41 mg/g) and sodium (0.05 mg/g). Water absorption capacity (2.35 g/g), oil absorption capacity (1.14 g/g) and bulk density (0.67 g/cm 3) were recorded for the JSP. The values for swelling power and solubility were 4.12 and 9.98, respectively. Furthermore, the various concentrations of jackfruit seed crude extract showed lethal developmental effects against zebrafish embryos during 96 hrs of exposure duration. Increased mortality was observed in embryos after exposure to concentrations above 15.625 µg/mL in dose and time-dependent manner. Based on the results, it can be concluded that JSP has great potential to be utilized in the formulations of food and other functional products. Additionally, the presence of toxic effects in the crude extract of JSP indicates the future studies required in isolating and identifying the compounds that might be responsible for the toxicity.

Jacalin is the major protein contained in the crude extract of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) seed that specifically recognizes and binds reversibly to galactose. Conventionally, purification of jacalin is carried out using the tedious and costly chromatographic techniques. In this study, extraction of jacalin from jackfruit seed crude extract were done using the sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT)-based reverse micellar system. Reverse micellar extraction is an attractive alternative for downstream processing of various proteins. A successful reverse micellar extraction consists of two basic steps: forward and backward extraction. Forward extraction transfers a target protein from an aqueous solution into the reverse micellar solution, while backward extraction releases the protein from the reverse micelles structure into a new aqueous solution. The effects of the aqueous phase pH, NaCl concentration and AOT concentration on the forward extraction efficiency (FEE) are investigated using the response surface methodology (Box-Behnken Design). The main effects and interactions of the parameters are analyzed through the 3D surface plots. The optimum conditions for forward extraction were determined as follows: aqueous phase pH 4.58, 125 mM NaCl and 40 mM AOT. Under the optimal conditions, the FEE reached 88.04±1.30%, closer to 87.99% predicted by the model. The results indicated that AOT/isooctane reverse micelle system is effective in extracting jacalin from the jackfruit seed crude extract and verified the practicability of the BBD model for optimizing the main parameters in the forward extraction of jacalin.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a form of cellulose produced by Acetobacter xylinum via fermentation process. BC contains impurities such as medium broth or the cell biomass. This study aims to determine the effect of purification method on the BC produced from oil palm frond (OPF) juice. Three purification method was presented in this study; first, BC was treated with different NaOH concentration at constant temperature of 70°C. Second, the BC was treated with different temperature while the NaOH concentration was fixed at 0.1M. Lastly, the BC was further purified in distilled water at different temperature. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analysis revealed that chemical composition of BC is similar to the natural cellulose without the present of biomass impurities as no peak at 1800 – 1500 cm−1 can be detected. Higher percentage for loss of biomass, 22.03 % can be obtained when the BC was treated with 1.0 M NaOH at 90°C and further purified in distilled water at 90°C. As conclusion, pure BC which are free from any impurities can be obtained by using proposed method.