Naturally Occurring Exosome Vesicles as Potential Delivery Vehicle for Bioactive Compounds

Various kinds of vesicles have been produced from plant, animal and inorganic materials for use as delivery vehicles especially in functional food formulation. However, major drawbacks associated with most of them include issues with sustainability, safety, biocompatibility, biorecognition, stability, bioavailability, bioadhesion, generation of reactive species, inefficient encapsulation and protection, and inability to release the bioactive compounds at target regions of the gastrointestinal tract. The use of vesicles innately formed in plant and animal cells as delivery agents would potentially solve most problems associated with the existing nanodelivery systems. Underutilized vesicles, known as exosomes, exist in plant and animal cells, where they play roles in cell communication and nutrient delivery. To date, exosomes have proven to be stable, biocompatible and able to withstand the activity of digestive enzymes until they reach their target locations. However, there is a need to explore better ways of inducing exosome production, to elucidate their physiological roles, and understand their biogenesis in plants, to discover sustainable methods of isolation of high yields of the vesicles. There is also a need to clarify the digestibility and interaction of the exosomes with blood and gastrointestinal fluids. This review highlights the isolation techniques and delivery potential of exosomes, and equally presents research gaps for enhancing the use of the natural vesicles for delivery purposes

First- and second-generation valorisation of wastes and residues occurring in the food supply chain

Despite the high potential to increase sustainability of food systems, wastes and by-products occurring in the food supply chain are currently only partially valorised at different value-added levels. First-generation valorisation strategies that aim at utilisation of complete material streams for production of animal feed, energy, compost and/or specific consumer applications are already widely implemented and experience further dissemination and/or development (e.g. biohydrogen/biohythane production) – either in the form of single processes or as part of cascade utilisations. Second-generation valorisation strategies comprise various forms of fractionised utilisation of material streams. They rely on integration of adapted recovery and conversion procedures for specific components in order to obtain sequentially different classes of products, e.g. fine chemicals, commodity products and biofuels. Such advanced strategies are particularly suitable for wastes and by-products occurring during industrial food processing. Valorisation of food by-products for functional food is an emerging trend

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase as a sustainable and promising plant source of bioactive peptides for food applications

Background Plant proteins are well-known precursors of bioactive peptides. In translating the peptides into functional foods, the protein sources need to be sustainable and readily available. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) is the major enzyme in photosynthesis and photorespiration in plants and some other organisms, and is known to be the most abundant protein on earth. Therefore, RuBisCO is an attractive and sustainable source of bioactive peptides. Scope and approach This review discusses the structure, function, composition and technology for plant RuBisCO extraction, as well as the fractionation and known bioactivities of its enzymatic hydrolysate and peptides. Feasibility of industrial scale up and practical application of the RuBisCO peptides in food were also considered. Key findings and conclusions Several processes are available for extraction of the RuBisCO subunits and some are simple, fast and adaptable for industrial scale production. Work is however needed on recovery of high protein yields with high purity. Most studies reported that peptides, mostly from the large subunit, from enzymatic hydrolysis of spinach or alfalfa RuBisCO possess antihypertensive, opioid-like, secretagogue and food intake stimulating, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. These properties demonstrate that RuBisCO can be utilized as a sustainable source of peptides with multiple bioactivities for formulation of functional foods

Chemometric Analysis of the Amino Acid Requirements of Antioxidant Food Protein Hydrolysates

The contributions of individual amino acid residues or groups of amino acids to antioxidant activities of some food protein hydrolysates were investigated using partial least squares (PLS) regression method. PLS models were computed with amino acid composition and 3-z scale descriptors in the X-matrix and antioxidant activities of the samples in the Y-matrix; models were validated by cross-validation and permutation tests. Based on coefficients of the resulting models, it was observed that sulfur-containing (SCAA), acidic and hydrophobic amino acids had strong positive effects on scavenging of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and H2O2 radicals in addition to ferric reducing antioxidant power. For superoxide radicals, only lysine and leucine showed strong positive contributions while SCAA had strong negative contributions to scavenging by the protein hydrolysates. In contrast, positively-charged amino acids strongly contributed negatively to ferric reducing antioxidant power and scavenging of DPPH and H2O2 radicals. Therefore, food protein hydrolysates containing appropriate amounts of amino acids with strong contribution properties could be potential candidates for use as potent antioxidant agents. We conclude that information presented in this work could support the development of low cost methods that will efficiently generate potent antioxidant peptide mixtures from food proteins without the need for costly peptide purification

Towards the management of hypertension: Modulation of the renin-angiotensin system by food protein hydrolysates and peptides

In response to the side effects of antihypertensive drugs, dietary and lifestyle modification approaches have become alternative strategies for prevention and modulation of mild hypertension. Moreover, the use of low molecular size bioactive peptides (BAPs) as antihypertensive agents has gained particular attention as a result of the safety, low cost, and consumer preference for natural health products compared to drugs. BAPs are produced by enzymatic hydrolysis of food proteins followed by post-hydrolysis processing to fractionate the active peptides. Antihypertensive BAPs exert their effect mostly by modulating the renin-angiotensin system pathway leading to decrease in vasoactive peptides with concomitant reduction of elevated blood pressure associated with hypertension in animal models and humans. This review revisits the prevalence of hypertension and the molecular basis of activity, bioavailability and safety of BAPS as well as contradictions and controversies on the use of peptides as antihypertensive agents

Large-scale mapping of bioactive peptides in structural and sequence space

Health-enhancing potential bioactive peptide (BP) has driven an interest in food proteins as well as in the development of predictive methods. Research in this area has been especially active to use them as components in functional foods. Apparently, BPs do not have a given biological function in the containing proteins and they do not evolve under independent evolutionary constraints. In this work we performed a large-scale mapping of BPs in sequence and structural space. Using well curated BP deposited in BIOPEP database, we searched for exact matches in non-redundant sequences databases. Proteins containing BPs, were used in fold-recognition methods to predict the corresponding folds and BPs occurrences were mapped. We found that fold distribution of BP occurrences possibly reflects sequence relative abundance in databases. However, we also found that proteins with 5 or more than 5 BP in their sequences correspond to well populated protein folds, called superfolds. Also, we found that in well populated superfamilies, BPs tend to adopt similar locations in the protein fold, suggesting the existence of hotspots. We think that our results could contribute to the development of new bioinformatics pipeline to improve BP detection.Fil: Nardo, Agustina Estefania. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Añon, Maria Cristina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Parisi, Gustavo Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Sustainability in a changing world: integrating human health and wellbeing, urbanisation, and ecosystem services

There is an urgent need to address interlinked sustainability issues in a world challenged by inequality, finite resources and unprecedented changes across Earth’s systems. As Future Earth Fellows, based on our collective expertise in a diverse range of sustainability issues, here we identify a specific need to recognise and respond appropriately to the nexus between human health and wellbeing, urbanisation, and ecosystem services (the ‘WUE nexus’). This nexus is a priority area for research, policy and practice. In particular, it provides a useful pathway to meet the challenges of successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this brief, we present the following policy recommendations:1. By emphasising urban-rural linkages, foster an integrated approach to ensure food security, food safety, and health promotion;2. Secure resilient livelihoods for all, in particular for vulnerable groups; and3. Integrate co-production of knowledge in science for decision-making, including the co-design of implementation frameworks, and the adoption of a nexus approach.<br/

The Tumor Suppressor Gene, RASSF1A, Is Essential for Protection against Inflammation -Induced Injury

10.1371/journal.pone.0075483PLoS ONE810-POLN