The EROP-Moscow oligopeptide database

Natural oligopeptides may regulate nearly all vital processes. To date, the chemical structures of nearly 6000 oligopeptides have been identified from >1000 organisms representing all the biological kingdoms. We have compiled the known physical, chemical and biological properties of these oligopeptides—whether synthesized on ribosomes or by non-ribosomal enzymes—and have constructed an internet-accessible database, EROP-Moscow (Endogenous Regulatory OligoPeptides), which resides at . This database enables users to perform rapid searches via many key features of the oligopeptides, and to carry out statistical analysis of all the available information. The database lists only those oligopeptides whose chemical structures have been completely determined (directly or by translation from nucleotide sequences). It provides extensive links with the Swiss-Prot-TrEMBL peptide-protein database, as well as with the PubMed biomedical bibliographic database. EROP-Moscow also contains data on many oligopeptides that are absent from other convenient databases, and is designed for extended use in classifying new natural oligopeptides and for production of novel peptide pharmaceuticals

New trends in peptide-based anti-biofilm strategies : a review of recent achievements and bioinformatics approaches

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have a broad spectrum of activity and unspecific mechanisms of action. Therefore, they are seen as valid alternatives to overcome clinically relevant biofilms and reduce the chance of acquired resistance. This paper reviews AMPs and anti-biofilm AMP-based strategies and discusses ongoing and future work. Recent studies report successful AMP-based prophylactic and therapeutic strategies, several databases catalogue AMP information and analysis tools, and novel bioinformatics tools are supporting AMP discovery and design. However, most AMP studies are performed with planktonic cultures, and most studies on sessile cells test AMPs on growing rather than mature biofilms. Promising preliminary synergistic studies have to be consubstantiated and the study of functionalized coatings with AMPs must be further explored. Standardized operating protocols, to enforce the repeatability and reproducibility of AMP anti-biofilm tests, and automated means of screening and processing the ever-expanding literature are still missing.Financial support from IBB-CEB and Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) and European Community fund FEDER, through Program COMPETE, in the ambit of the FCT project 'PTDC/SAU-SAP/113196/2009/ FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-016012' is gratefully acknowledged

Analiza peptida iz hrane

The aim of this review is to discuss the definition of food peptidomics and highlight the role of this approach in food and nutrition sciences. Similar to living organisms, food peptidome may be defined as the whole peptide pool present in a food product or raw material. This definition also covers peptides obtained during technological processes and/or storage. The area of interest of food peptidomics covers research concerning the origin of peptidome, its dynamic changes during processing and/or storage, the influence of its presence, the composition and changes in the pool of peptides on the properties of food products or raw materials as well as the methods applied in research into this group of compounds. The area of interests of food peptidomics would include biological activity, functional properties, allergenicity, sensory properties and information on the product or resource authenticity and origin as well as its history and relationships. Research methods applied in food peptidomics, with special emphasis on computational methods, are also summarized.Ovaj revijalni prikaz razmatra definiciju pojma „food peptidomics“, tj. istraživanje peptida iz hrane i njihovu ulogu u prehrambenoj tehnologiji i nutricionizmu. Slično živim organizmima, „peptidome“ hrane obuhvaća sve peptide u prehrambenom proizvodu ili sirovini, a i one proizvedene tijekom prerade i/ili njihova skladištenja. Ova grana znanosti obuhvaća istraživanje podrijetla peptida, dinamičnosti njihove promjene pri preradi i/ili skladištenju, utjecaja peptida, njihova sastava i promjene sastava na svojstva prehrambenih proizvoda i sirovina, te metode istraživanja. To uključuje ispitivanje njihove biološke aktivnosti, funkcionalnih, alergenskih i senzorskih svojstava, informacije o autentičnosti i porijeklu proizvoda ili izvora, te povijesni razvoj i odnose. U radu su opisane metode istraživanja peptida, s posebnim naglaskom na računske metode

Challenges in the quantitation of the naturally generated bioactive peptides in processed meats

[EN] Background: The final characteristics of processed meats depend on many factors but one of the most important is the intense proteolysis occurred in muscle proteins due to the action of endogenous enzymes in dry-cured ham, and also microbial peptidases in the case of dry-fermented meats, that not only affects taste and flavour but also the generation of bioactive peptides. Scope and approach: In this review main difficulties in the identification of bioactive peptides in processed meats have been described. This study highlights the novel strategies used during the last years to identify naturally generated peptides, and emphasises the need of robust quantitative methodologies for the adequate characterisation of their bioavailability. In fact, the most common and well established quantitation approaches using proteomics are not adapted for peptidomics analysis, so alternative strategies need to be considered. Key findings and conclusions: The progress in the identification and characterisation of the activity of natural bioactive peptides is highly dependent on modern instruments and bioinformatics tools as well as updated protein databases. In fact, the use of in silico approaches and proteomics can be complementary tools in the identification of peptides from meat protein sources as the empirical experimental design can be simplified by using bioinformatics for computer simulation in most of the steps. Finally, Multiple Reaction Monitoring mass spectrometry methodology previously used in the quantitation of therapeutic peptides and biomarkers arises as a powerful tool for absolute quantitation or semiquantitation of bioactive peptides.The research leading to these results received funding from the European Union 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement 312090 (BACCHUS). This publication reflects only the author views and the Community is not liable for any use made of the information contained therein. Grant AGL2014-57367-R from MINECO and FEDER funds and the Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral contract to LM are acknowledged. The proteomic analysis was performed in the proteomics facility of SCSIE University of Valencia that belongs to ProteoRed, PRB2-ISCIII, (IPT13/0001 - ISCIII-SGEFI/FEDER).Mora Soler, L.; Gallego-Ibáñez, M.; Reig Riera, MM.; Toldrá Vilardell, F. (2017). Challenges in the quantitation of the naturally generated bioactive peptides in processed meats. Trends in Food Science & Technology. 69:306-314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2017.04.011S3063146

Analiza peptida iz hrane

The aim of this review is to discuss the definition of food peptidomics and highlight the role of this approach in food and nutrition sciences. Similar to living organisms, food peptidome may be defined as the whole peptide pool present in a food product or raw material. This definition also covers peptides obtained during technological processes and/or storage. The area of interest of food peptidomics covers research concerning the origin of peptidome, its dynamic changes during processing and/or storage, the influence of its presence, the composition and changes in the pool of peptides on the properties of food products or raw materials as well as the methods applied in research into this group of compounds. The area of interests of food peptidomics would include biological activity, functional properties, allergenicity, sensory properties and information on the product or resource authenticity and origin as well as its history and relationships. Research methods applied in food peptidomics, with special emphasis on computational methods, are also summarized.Ovaj revijalni prikaz razmatra definiciju pojma „food peptidomics“, tj. istraživanje peptida iz hrane i njihovu ulogu u prehrambenoj tehnologiji i nutricionizmu. Slično živim organizmima, „peptidome“ hrane obuhvaća sve peptide u prehrambenom proizvodu ili sirovini, a i one proizvedene tijekom prerade i/ili njihova skladištenja. Ova grana znanosti obuhvaća istraživanje podrijetla peptida, dinamičnosti njihove promjene pri preradi i/ili skladištenju, utjecaja peptida, njihova sastava i promjene sastava na svojstva prehrambenih proizvoda i sirovina, te metode istraživanja. To uključuje ispitivanje njihove biološke aktivnosti, funkcionalnih, alergenskih i senzorskih svojstava, informacije o autentičnosti i porijeklu proizvoda ili izvora, te povijesni razvoj i odnose. U radu su opisane metode istraživanja peptida, s posebnim naglaskom na računske metode

Identification of potential bioactive peptides in sheep milk kefir through peptidomic analysis at different fermentation times

Sheep farming is an important socioeconomic activity in most Mediterranean countries, particularly Spain, where it contributes added value to rural areas. Sheep milk is used in Spain mainly for making cheese, but it can be used also for making other dairy products, such as the lactic-alcoholic fermentation product known as kefir. Dairy products have health benefits because, among other reasons, they contain molecules with biological activity. In this work, we performed a proteomics strategy to identify the peptidome, i.e., the set of peptides contained in sheep milk kefir fermented for four different periods of time, aiming to understand changes in the pattern of digestion of milk proteins, as well as to identify potential bioactive peptides. In total, we identified 1942 peptides coming from 11 different proteins, and found that the unique peptides differed qualitatively among samples and their numbers increased along the fermentation time. These changes were supported by the increase in ethanol, lactic acid, and D-galactose concentrations, as well as proteolytic activity, as the fermentation progressed. By searching in databases, we found that 78 of the identified peptides, all belonging to caseins, had potential biological activity. Of these, 62 were not previously found in any milk kefir from other animal species. This is the first peptidomic study of sheep milk kefir comprising time-course comparison

Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Peptides Derived from Food Proteins

Artículo científicoRecently, the demand for food proteins in the market has increased due to a rise in degen‐ erative illnesses that are associated with the excessive production of free radicals and the unwanted side effects of various drugs, for which researchers have suggested diets rich in bioactive com‐ pounds. Some of the functional compounds present in foods are antioxidant and antimicrobial pep‐ tides, which are used to produce foods that promote health and to reduce the consumption of anti‐ biotics. These peptides have been obtained from various sources of proteins, such as foods and agri‐ food by‐products, via enzymatic hydrolysis and microbial fermentation. Peptides with antioxidant properties exert effective metal ion (Fe2+/Cu2+) chelating activity and lipid peroxidation inhibition, which may lead to notably beneficial effects in promoting human health and food processing. An‐ timicrobial peptides are small oligo‐peptides generally containing from 10 to 100 amino acids, with a net positive charge and an amphipathic structure; they are the most important components of the antibacterial defense of organisms at almost all levels of life—bacteria, fungi, plants, amphibians, insects, birds and mammals—and have been suggested as natural compounds that neutralize the toxicity of reactive oxygen species generated by antibiotics and the stress generated by various ex‐ ogenous sources. This review discusses what antioxidant and antimicrobial peptides are, their source, production, some bioinformatics tools used for their obtainment, emerging technologies, and health benefits.Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologí

Immunoregulatory Properties of Break Down Products of Human Choriogonadotropin

Reproductive function in the female is cyclic. A series of functional interrelationships between the hypothalamus, the anterior pituitary, and the ovaries leads to the monthly rupture of an ovarian follicle and extrusion of an egg (“ovulation”), which is then transported to the fallopian tubes to be fertilized. Should fertilization fail to occur, menstruation ensues within 14 days and the hormonal and morphological events that led to ovulation are repeated. Ovulation occurs around day 14 of the menstrual cycle, followed by fertilization as egg and sperm unite within 24 hours. The first three days of development occur within the fallopian tube. Upon arrival within the uterus the conceptus develops into a blastocyst (Figure 1) and begins to make mRNA for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), the first hormone signal from the early embryo. By day 6 after fertilization the blastocyst initiates implantation into the maternal endometrium or uterine lining. Within a few days of fertilization the blastocyst becomes a spherical structure composed of two layers. The outside layer of cells become trophoblasts and the inside of a group of cells called the inner cell mass (Figure 2A) will develop into the fetus and ultimately the baby. In addition to making hCG, the trophoblasts mediate the implantation process by attaching to, and eventually invading into the endometrium (Figure 2B). Once firmly attached to the endometrium the developing conceptus grows and continues to expand into the endometrium. One of the basic paradigms which is established even within the first week of gestation is that the embryonic/fetal cells are always separated from maternal tissues and blood by a layer of cytotrophoblasts (mononuclear trophoblasts) and syncytiotrophoblasts (multinucleated trophoblasts) (Figure 2C-F). This is critical not only for nutrient exchange, but also to protect the developing fetus from maternal immunologic attack (1). Implantation is regulated by a complex interplay between trophoblasts and endometrium. On the one hand trophoblasts have a potent invasive capacity and if allowed to invade unchecked, spread throughout the uterus. The endometrium, on the other hand, controls trophoblast invasion by secreting locally acting factors (i.e. cytokines and protease inhibitors), which modulate trophoblast invasion. Within the placenta the syncytiotrophoblasts generate high levels of hCG which modulates cytotrophoblast differentiation towards a non-invasive hormone secreting villous-type trophoblast. The closer the trophoblasts are to the endometrium the less hCG is made, allowing the trophoblasts to differentiate into anchoring type cells (2). Trophoblasts that leave the placenta and migrate within the endo and myometrium are induced to make proteases and protease inhibitors, to further facilitate trophoblast invasion into the maternal tissues (2). Ultimately, normal implantation and placentation is a balance between regulatory gradients created by both the trophoblasts and the endometrium