Fig. 4: Rheological properties of the parent plant protein gels and volume fraction-dependent apparent viscosities of the microgels.

Storage modulus (a) and Young’s modulus (b) of parent plant protein gels with apparent viscosities (η) of microgels prepared using pea protein concentrate to form a 15.0 wt% total protein microgel, (PPM15), potato protein isolate to form a 5.0 wt% total protein microgel (PoPM5), potato protein isolate to form a 10.0 wt% total protein microgel, (PoPM10), and using a mixture of pea protein concentrate at 7.5 wt% total protein and potato protein isolate at 5.0 wt% total protein microgel (PPM7.5:PoPM5) with corresponding storage modulus (G’) of parent plant protein gels (a) as a function of volume fractions (ϕ) at pH 7.0 at shear rates of (c) 0.1 s–1 and (d) 50 s–1, the latter representing orally relevant shear rates performed at 37 °C. Data was recorded with shear rate increasing from 0.1 to 50 s–1, Figures a–b display means and standard deviations of 5 measurements on triplicate samples (n = 5 × 3) where statistical analysis was performed using two tailed unpaired Student’s t-test with differing lower-case letters in the same bar chart indicate a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). Figures (c, d) shows the mean of 6 measurements on triplicate samples (n = 6 × 3) with error bars representing standard deviations. The original temperature ramp and frequency sweeps of the parent heat set gelled proteins are shown in Supplementary Figs. 3 and 4, respectively. The true stress-strain curves are shown in Supplementary Fig. 5 from which the Young’s moduli are computed. Original flow curves for the microgel dispersions at each volume fractions are shown in Supplementary Fig. 6.