8.1. Empirical production of bioactive peptides and their functions
The bioactive peptides can be produced from protein sources using different methods, including enzymatic hydrolysis with digestive enzymes, enzymatic hydrolysis using proteases, fermentation, microwave-assisted hydrolysis and other techniques, as mentioned earlier. Enzymatic hydrolysis is the most popular one for producing protein hydrolysates from marine sources. Crude protein hydrolysates are subjected to various assays to screen for bioactivities. After detecting bioactivities, crude protein hydrolysates are fractionated based on peptide size via ultrafiltration. The fraction showing the highest bioactivity is further purified using various chromatographic techniques. The isolated peptides are then sequenced using tandem mass spectrometry and protein sequencing. Finally, based on the peptide sequence, peptides are synthesized, and the assays are repeated to confirm the bioactivities [
106,
107]. The production of bioactive peptides is shown in
Figure 7. Some of the peptides extracted from Atlantic salmon reported in the literature are given in
Table 4.
Several studies have been conducted on the bioactive peptides of Atlantic salmon and their beneficial action in health promotion, including angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity. ACE inhibitors could help to relax the arteries and veins, resulting in lower blood pressure. For example, Neves et al. [
18] extracted bioactive peptides from salmon trimmings with ACE inhibitory and dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitory activities as well as, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). Salmon protein procured from trimmings was isolated using the pH shift method and hydrolyzed with Alcalase, Flavourzyme, Promod, and Corolase PP. The IC
50 values for ACE inhibitory activities of hydrolysed salmon trimming protein ranged between 0.74 and 1.69 mg/mL. Alcalase treated hydrolysates generated a more potent ACE inhibitory peptide with an IC50 value of 0.74 mg/mL. Promod hydrolysates produced the least potent ACE inhibitory peptide with an IC
50 value of 1.69 mg/mL. The IC
50 values for DPP-IV inhibitory activities extracted from salmon trimming protein ranged between 0.30 and 2.37 mg/mL. Corolase PP-treated hydrolysates generated a more potent DPP-IV inhibitory peptide with an IC
50 value of 0.30 mg/mL. Promod hydrolysates produced the least potent DPP-IV inhibitory peptide with an IC
50 value of 2.37 mg/mL. Similarly, Neves et al. [
17] extracted gelatin from salmon trimming protein and hydrolyzed it with Alcalase, Alcalase+Flavourzyme, Corolase PP, Promod, and Brewer’s Clarex. There were distinct differences in the peptide profiles of hydrolysates generated with different enzymes used. The increase in reaction time generated more low molecular weight peptides using all enzymes. More potent ACE inhibitory hydrolysates were generated using Corolase PP and Alcalase+Flavourzyme with IC
50 values of 0.13 and 0.28 mg/mL, respectively. More potent DPP-IV inhibitory hydrolysates were generated using Corolase PP and Alcalase+Flavourzyme with IC
50 values of 0.08 and 0.10 mg/mL, respectively. The ORAC values of antioxidant peptides extracted from salmon gelatin hydrolysates ranged between 103 and 540.94 µmol Trolox/g. The hydrolysates extracted using Corolase PP and Promod generated the most antioxidant peptides based on ORAC values. The salmon gelatin hydrolysate extracted using Corolase PP was used for further analysis. The purified Corolase salmon gelatin hydrolysate was administered to spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The in vivo study indicated improved mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and decreased the heart rate (HR) of SHR compared to synthetic drug Captopril
TM. In addition, the ORAC values of antioxidant peptides extracted using Promod ranged from 587.41 to 882.58 µmol Trolox/g. Peptides generated by Alcalase, Alcalase+Flavourzyme, and Corolase PP had ORAC values higher than 601.47 µmol Trolox equivalents/g. In another study, peptides derived from salmon demonstrate strong ACE inhibition due to their high affinity to ACE active sites. In particular, peptides with molecular weight (>1500 Da), C terminal peptide sequence, short chain length, hydrophobic amino acids, and presence of lysine or arginine at C end exhibited higher ACE inhibitory activity [
108].
Ahn et al. [
109] identified ACE inhibitory peptides from salmon protein by-product via enzymatic hydrolysis using Alcalase, Flavourzyme, Neutrase, pepsin, Protamex, and trypsin. The results indicated that Alcalase hydrolysates possessed the highest ACE inhibitory activity. The chromatographically purified ACE inhibitory peptides were VWDPPKFD (P1), FEDYVPLSCF (P2) and FNVPLYE (P4) and their IC50 values were 9.10, 10.77 and 7.72 µM, respectively. The study also indicated that the VWDPPKFD peptide was a non-competitive inhibitor, and FEDYVPLSCF and FNVPLYE had mixed inhibition modes. The presence of phenylalanine, leucine and tyrosine at the C-terminal appears to play an important role in their inhibition activity. In another study, low-molecular-weight ACE inhibitory peptides were isolated from Atlantic salmon skin by Gu et al. [
110]. The peptides had a high quantity (90.79%) of oligopeptides below 1 kDa, with most of them in the range of 132-576 Da (69%). The filtered salmon peptides had an IC
50 of 1.165 mg/mL. To better understand and identify the peptides, the samples were subjected to RP-HPLC, and 11 different fractions were obtained. Two fractions out of 11 had high ACE inhibitory activities. A total of eleven peptides were identified from the two high ACE fractions, including three dipeptides, one tripeptide, five tetrapeptides, and two pentapeptides. Two dipeptides, AP and VR, exhibited an IC
50 of 0.06 and 0.332 mg/mL ACE inhibition, respectively, which is 20 and 40-folds more potent than filtered salmon peptides (1.165 mg/mL).
Slizyte et al. [
62] screened defatted salmon backbone protein hydrolysates using Corolase PP, Corolase 7089, papain, bromelain, Protex, Seabzyme L200, and trypsin for bioactivities. The highest DPPH radical scavenging activity was obtained from Protamex hydrolysates without oil separation before hydrolysis, followed by Corolase hydrolysates. The iron-chelating activities ranged between 54 and 87% for all hydrolysates. Bromelain+papain hydrolysates after 20 min had the best iron-chelating ability indicating that larger peptides have better ability to chelate iron, and this property weakens when the peptide size is reduced. Trypsin hydrolysates had the highest ACE inhibitory activity (IC
50 = 0.9 mg/mL) after 120 min hydrolysis. Bromelain+papain hydrolysates (8 mg/mL) had the most significant glucose transport inhibiting activity (39% reduction) than other enzymes. The 250-300 Da dipeptides are reported to have a role in the regulation of glucose uptake. On the other hand, Picot et al. [
116] studied the antiproliferative activity of fish protein hydrolysates against human breast cancer cell lines. Seven different types of fishes, including blue whiting, Atlantic cod, Atlantic salmon, Atlantic emporer, pollack, plaice, and Portuguese dogfish was used to produce protein hydrolysates. The protein hydrolysates from blue whiting (35 and 28%), cod (40 and 20%), plaice (35 and 30%) and salmon (25 and 18%) exhibited significant growth inhibition relative to control against two human breast carcinoma cell lines, MCF-7/6 and MDA-MB-231 cells grown
in vitro. Moreover, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of peptide fractions extracted from salmon by-products were studied by Ahn et al. [
117]. Salmon byproduct protein from pectoral fin was used for enzymatic hydrolysis. All salmon protein hydrolysates exhibited potent DPPH activities in a dose-dependent manner. The purified pepsin-hydrolysate showed high DPPH scavenging activity (73% at 4 mg/mL) and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity (87% at 4 mg/mL). The salmon hydrolysate was tested for inhibiting intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation and its effect on glutathione (GSH) level in Chang liver cells. The pepsin hydrolysate decreased intracellular ROS generation by 2.14-fold compared to the control group. It enhanced the GSH level in Chang liver cells in a time and dose-dependent manner at a concentration of 1 mg/mL. The pepsin hydrolysate also inhibited LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO) production (3.61 times) in a concentration-dependent manner with the highest reduction at 400 µg/mL. The pepsin hydrolysate also inhibited proinflammatory cytokine production, including TNF-α (200 µg/mL), IL-6 (200 µg/mL), and IL-1β (200 µg/mL) in RAW264.7 macrophage cells in a concentration-dependent manner. In a follow-up study, Ahn et al. [
111] purified and studied the anti-inflammatory action of a tripeptide from salmon pectoral fin by-product protein hydrolysate. The purified anti-inflammatory peptide was identified as PAY, and it significantly inhibited the production of nitric oxide (NO) by 63% and prostaglandin E
2 (PGE
2) by 45.33% in RAW264.7 cells at 0.75 mM concentration. The PAY tripeptide also inhibited LPS-stimulated TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β production in RAW264.7 macrophage cells at 0.75 mM concentration.
Li-Chan [
112] studied the dipeptidyl-peptidase IV (DPP-IV)-inhibitory activity of peptides derived from Atlantic salmon skin gelatin hydrolyzed by Alcalase, Flavourzyme, and bromelain The Flavourzyme hydrolysate extracted at 6% enzyme/substrate concentration exhibited the DPP-IV highest inhibition rate of 45.2%, followed by Alcalase (30%) and Bromelain (23.1%). The peptides obtained within the <1 kDa ultrafiltrate fraction exhibited the highest DDP-IV inhibition rate of 61.2% whereas, the >2.5 and 1-2.5 kDa fractions had 29.6 and 43.2% inhibition rates, respectively. The IC
50 value of <1 kDa fraction was 1.35 mg/mL. The <1 kDa fraction was purified, and DPP-IV inhibitory activities were studied at a concentration of 100 µg solid/mL. The purified fraction had an IC50 value of 57.3 µg/mL. The peptides identified in the purified fraction were GPAE (372.4 Da) and GPGA (300.4 Da). The IC
50 values of the two synthetic peptides, GPAE and GPGA, were 49.6 and 41.9 μM, respectively. Moreover, Jin et al. [
113] identified dipeptidyl-peptidase IV (DPP-IV)-inhibitory peptides from salmon skin collagen hydrolysate. The ultrafiltered sample analysis indicated that < 3kDa fraction had the highest DPP-IV inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 1.54 mg/mL. The study reported three DPP-IV inhibitory peptides out of 24 identified peptides, including YYGYTGAFR, LDKVFR, and VLATSGPG, with IC
50 values of 1.21, 0.10, and 0.18 mg/mL, respectively. The study reported a novel hexapeptide (LDKVFR), and it also had the highest DPP-IV inhibitory activity. The molecular docking studies also revealed that six hydrogen bonds and eight hydrophobic interactions between LDKVFR and DPP-IV contributed to DPP-IV inhibition.
Atlantic salmon peptides have been reported to exhibit strong antioxidant potential. For instance, Wang et al. [
114] studied the purification and characterization of antioxidant peptides from salmon protamine hydrolysate. Protamine is derived from fish milt, and it is usually discarded as an industrial by-product in fish plants The salmon protamine hydrolysate was fractionated using size exclusion chromatography, and various fractions were analyzed for scavenging activity on hydroxyl radical, DPPH radical, and superoxide radical. The highest hydroxyl radical scavenging activity peptide (PR) had an IC
50 value of 91.3 µg/mL. Likewise, Girgih et al. [
118] studied the antioxidant properties of peptides extracted from salmon frame protein hydrolysates that were hydrolyzed sequentially with pepsin and trypsin+chymotrypsin, and the resulting hydrolysate was ultrafiltered through < 1 kDa membrane. Later, ultrafiltered protein hydrolysate was separated using reverse-phase HPLC into four peptide fractions (1-4). The results from this study indicated that fractions 2-4 exhibited higher ORAC values between 1315 and 1541 µM Trolox equivalent (TE)/g compared to non-fractionated protein hydrolysate (819.3 µM TE/g). A similar trend was seen for DPPH and superoxide radical scavenging activities. However, the non-fractionated salmon protein hydrolysates had higher metal chelating activity than the peptide fractions. The peptide fractions also strongly inhibited linoleic acid oxidation. In addition, the pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) technique was used to prepare antioxidant peptides from salmon muscle remains, skin, heads, viscera, and tailfins and found that both ORAC and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assays exhibited strong antioxidant activity, mainly those were prepared from viscera [
119]. Hydrophobic amino acids, including alanine, proline, leucine, and valine, in salmon by-products could play an important role in showing antioxidant activity. Moreover, Hanachi et al. [
120] isolated salmon head peptides using membrane filtration, which exhibited strong ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activities, ORAC, and metal chelation activity (MCA), as well as ACE inhibitory activity, with an IC
50 value of 413.43 ± 13.12 µg/mL. The MCA could be linked to the presence of histidine and glutamic acid in salmon head, providing more carboxylic groups and imidazole rings to bioactive peptides and increasing the electrostatic interaction with Fe
2+ ions. Likewise, Rajendran et al. [
121] developed protein hydrolysates from Atlantic salmon processing waste (viscera) using lactic acid fermentation with the formic acid treatment and Flavourzyme and found that they showed higher metal chelation and ferric reducing capacities. On the other hand, anti-allergic peptides were isolated from Atlantic salmon byproducts using sephadex G-15 gel permeation chromatography, HPLC, and mass spectrometry [
122]. Result suggested that the isolated peptide (TPEVHIAVDKF) exerted excellent anti-allergic activity by inhibiting the release of β-hexosaminidase in immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated RBL-2H3 cell degranulation at IC
50 value of 1.39 mg/mL.
8.2. In-silico production of bioactive peptides
The
in-silico analysis involves computational methods applied to manage, curate, and interpret various biological systems. Protein databases such as UniProtKB, NCBI, and BIOPEP contain different protein sequences that can be utilized to analyze amino acid profiles of precursor proteins. Online tools such as BIOPEP and ExPASY-PeptideCutter can be used to select enzymes and proteins and predict theoretical bioactive peptide profiles. The
in-silico hydrolysis results can be compared with the bioactive peptides reported in the literature and databases [
123,
124,
125,
126]. The
in-silico approach for identifying and processing bioactive peptides is shown in
Figure 8. The different databases and tools are given in
Table 5.
Darewicz et al. [
115] studied the ACE inhibitory peptides from salmon protein hydrolysates using three different methods such as
in-silico, ex-vivo and in-vitro. In the
in-silico analysis, the 52 amino acid sequences of salmon proteins were selected from the UniProt database. The proteolysis simulation using pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin was conducted using the procedure built into the BIOPEP database. The ex-vivo digestion was carried out using human gastric juice (HGJ) and human duodenal juice (HDJ). The in-vitro digestion was carried out using pepsin and Corolase PP. The
in-silico digestion identified 11 ACE peptides from two types of salmon proteins (myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic). The two-step ex-vivo and in-vitro digestion were conducted to mimic the human digestion process. The results indicated that porcine enzymes more easily degraded salmon proteins than gastrointestinal enzymes. The sarcoplasmic proteins were broken down more easily than myofibrillar proteins. This study identified 9 and 7 peptides from ex-vivo and in-vitro hydrolysates, respectively, compared to 11 peptides identified in the
in-silico analysis (
Table 4). The study indicated that results generated by
in-silico simulation of hydrolysis were not confirmed in the in-vitro studies due to the oversimplification assumed for the availability of all bonds susceptible to the enzyme in the polypeptide chain of the protein. Sometimes, incomplete data on the specificity of the enzyme can also lead to discrepancies [
124].
Wang et al. [
127] studied the potential of
in-silico approach for predicting DPP-IV inhibitory activity, in-vitro, of protein hydrolysates. In this study, 294 edible protein sequences (80 animal and 214 plant sources) and five commercial proteases were analyzed
in-silico. The authors hypothesized that protein hydrolysates with high contents of peptides having XP and XA might potentially be DPP-IV inhibitors. This study identified the frequency of specific amino acids by calculating the ratio of the number of peptides with proline, alanine, or proline+alanine as the second N-terminal residues to the total peptide fragments released by proteases. The
in-silico analysis was carried out on all combinations of protein sources and proteases. Based on these results, fifteen protein and protease combinations were selected for in-vitro analysis. The parvalbumin-beta 2, Atlantic salmon (
Salmo salar; BIOPEP ID 1739), have the most alanine content (19.4 alanine/100 amino acid residues) and was suggested to have great potential as the precursor of DPP-IV inhibitory peptides. Unfortunately, the salmon proteins were not chosen for further in-vitro studies. However, the in-vitro studies from other proteins indicated that the DPP-IV inhibition rate increased with the degree of hydrolysis and hydrolysis time. The correlation studies between DPP-IV inhibition rates vs frequency of proline, alanine or proline+alanine (A%) showed that the selection of proline+alanine during
in-silico analysis showed a strong correlation with in-vitro DPP-IV inhibition rates. However, the
in-silico selection of proline and alanine had a moderate and weak correlation with the in-vitro analysis. Similarly, Lacroix and Li-Chan [
128] evaluated the potential of various dietary proteins as precursors of DPP-IV inhibitors by an
in-silico approach. The study used three proteins from Atlantic salmon (actin-cytoplasmic 1, myosin regulatory light chain 2, and slow myosin heavy chain) and one protein from Chum salmon (Type 1 collagen alpha 2 chain) reported in the UniProt KB database. The
in-silico study identified 499 fragments matching sequences known to present an inhibitory activity against the DPP-IV enzyme. The GP and PG were the most frequently occurring sequences and were mainly found in the collagen proteins due to the high contents of proline and glycine. Collagen from Atlantic salmon and Chum salmon had a DPP-IV peptides occurrence frequency value of 0.110 and 0.305, respectively. Unlike other protein sources investigated in this study, salmon collagens contained relatively high numbers of DPP-IV inhibitory tripeptides APG and GPA. The study concluded that salmon proteins were one of the best potential precursors of DPP-IV inhibitors. In contrast, the plant commodity oat was the least promising potential source of DPP-IV inhibitors. In addition, de la Fuente et al. [
119] identified 67 peptides from salmon viscera and predicted their antioxidant activity using the BIOPEP-UMP database. Bioinformatics analysis exhibited few antioxidant small peptides encrypted in amino acid sequences, mainly glycine-alanine-alanine and glycine-alanine-alanine. Most of these predicted antioxidant peptides were di- and tri-peptides in nature.