Proteomic insights into novel food insects: Homology-based proteome characterization and allergenicity considerations for EU-regulated insect species

Abstract

Insects have emerged as a sustainable alternative protein source and recently gained regulatory approval in the European Union as novel foods and animal feed ingredients. However, the limited availability of species-specific proteomic databases presents a significant challenge for the accurate identification of proteins in insect-based food products, relevant for food authenticity, safety and allergenicity concerns. In this study, we developed a homology-based proteomic workflow to address the lack of comprehensive sequence data for edible insect species and to explore their allergenic potential. This nanoflow tandem mass spectrometry method (nano-HPLC HR-MS) aims to be generally applicable to underexplored species. We identified between 1079 and 1893 proteins for each of the six investigated insect species Acheta domesticus, Locusta migratoria, Tenebrio molitor, Alphitobius diaperinus, Gryllodes sigillatus and Hermetia illucens, increasing their numbers of known proteins up to 24-fold. Furthermore, we assessed the influence of error-tolerant peptide-spectra matching searches and database composition on protein identification and confirmed on average 90 % of selected peptides using targeted methods. We consistently detected known and putative allergens across all tested species, providing further evidence on their allergenic potential. Data from this study may provide the general basis for the development of targeted parallel reaction monitoring mass spectrometry-based assays for so far unsequenced species authentication and quantification of their proteins e.g. in novel foods. The data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD061237