Novel antioxidant peptides identified from coix seed by molecular docking, quantum chemical calculations and invitro study in HepG2 cells.

The aim of the study was to identify potent antioxidant peptides sourced from coix seed, analyze the structure-activity relationship through molecular docking and quantum chemical calculation. Molecular docking results showed that among thirteen peptides selected in silico, eight had favourable binding interaction with the Keap1-Kelch domain (2FLU). Promising peptides with significant binding scores were further evaluated using quantum calculation. It was shown that peptide FFDR exhibited exceptional stability, with a high energy gap of 5.24 eV and low Highest Occupied Molecular Orbitals (HOMO) and Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbitals (LUMO) values. Furthermore, FFDR displayed the capacity to enhance the expression of Nrf2-Keap1 antioxidant genes (CAT, SOD, GSH-Px) and improved cellular redox balance by increasing reduced glutathione (GSH) while reducing oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and malonaldehyde (MDA) levels. These findings highlight the potential of coix seed peptides in developing novel, effective and stable antioxidant-based functional foods.

Ultrasound treatments improve germinability of soybean seeds: The key role of working frequency.

In this paper, the effects of ultrasound with different frequency modes on the sprouting rate, sprouting vigor, metabolism-related enzyme activity and late nutrient accumulation in soybean were investigated, and the mechanism of dual-frequency ultrasound promoting bean sprout development was explored. The results showed that, compared with control, the sprouting time was shortened by 24 h after dual-frequency ultrasound treatment (20/60 kHz), and the longest shoot was 7.82 cm at 96 h. Meanwhile, ultrasonic treatment significantly enhanced the activities of protease, amylase, lipase and peroxidase (p < 0.05), particularly the phenylalanine ammonia-lyase increased by 20.50%, which not only accelerated the seed metabolism, but also led to the accumulation of phenolics (p < 0.05), as well as more potent antioxidant activity at later stages of sprouting. In addition, the seed coat exhibited remarkable cracks and holes after ultrasonication, resulting in accelerated water absorption. Moreover, the immobilized water in seeds increased significantly, which was beneficial to seed metabolism and later sprouting. These findings confirmed that dual-frequency ultrasound pretreatment has a great potential to be used for seed sprouting and promoting the accumulation of nutrients in bean sprouts by accelerating water absorption and increasing enzyme activity.

Highly stable, antihypertensive, and antioxidative peptide production from Apostichopus japonicus by integrated enzymatic membrane reactor and nanofilter-purification mechanism.

Enzymatic hydrolysis-offline and membrane separation (EH-offline MS), enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR) (various operational modes), and conjoined nanofilter-purification (desalination) were used to produce highly stable antihypertensive and antioxidative peptides from ultrasonic-slurry viscosity reduced sea cucumber (A. japonicus) protein. The adoption of the optimum batch parameters by EMR-gradient diafiltration feeding (GDF), water feeding, and substrate feeding ensured a significant (p < 0.05) enhancement in protein conversion degree (PCD) by 60.39, 46.69, and 23.33%, respectively, over the conventional EH-offline MS. Also, the antihypertensive activity (ACE-inhibitory potency) of the peptides produced was in the order EMR-GDF > substrate feeding > water feeding > batch process > EH-offline MS. The EMR-GDF and nanofilter-purification produced highly digestible peptides with ACE-inhibition activities of 79.44% and 77.57% for gastric and gastrointestinal digests, respectively. Peptides with molecular weights of 1000-500 Da and 500 Da significantly contributed to the antihypertensive potency of desalinated peptides. In vitro simulated peptides showed a significant increase in the hydroxyl radical scavenging activity for gastric (77.27%) and gastrointestinal (85.32%) digests. The antioxidative stability of the produced peptides was least affected by high-temperature storage. The high arginine (Arg) and hydrophobic amino acid (HAA) content of the peptides resulted in their improved digestibility. Therefore, conjoined EMR-GDF and nanofilter-purification in the production of highly stable desalinated bioactive peptides for industrial applications could be a viable alternative.