Potential interaction mechanism of glucose oxidase and cooked-induced components of peach puree during thermal processing

“Cooked” flavor was the key factor affecting the aroma quality of peach puree (PP) during thermal treatments, and it could be effectively regulated by glucose oxidase (GOD). However, the interaction between GOD and “cooked” components needs in-depth research. In this study, 28 aroma-active compounds with odor activity value ≥1 were first identified in PP during concentration and sterilization. It was confirmed that 1-octen-3-one contributed to the “cooked” attribute using sensomics including aroma recombination and omission, and the odor was enhanced when its concentration was ≥1.25 μg/g. GOD (1 mg/g) could effectively eliminate 1-octen-3-one in PP during concentration and sterilization via linoleic acid and linolenic acid metabolisms. Molecular simulation results further revealed that a weak interaction force was formed between linolenic acid and GOD with a lower binding energy of −126.57 kJ/mol through van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonds, electrostatic interactions (salt bridge) and hydrophobic (pi-alkyl) interactions. Furthermore, changes in fluorescence intensity of GOD and its stable activity indicated the structure of the linolenic acid-GOD complex was relatively stable. These findings could provide a theoretical basis for improving the aroma quality of PP.