Comprehensive peptidomic and glycomic evaluation reveals that sweet whey permeate from colostrum is a source of milk protein-derived peptides and oligosaccharides

Abstract

Whey permeate is a co-product obtained when cheese whey is passed through an ultrafiltration membrane to concentrate whey proteins. Whey proteins are retained by the membrane, whereas the low-molecular weight compounds such as lactose, salts, oligosaccharides and peptides pass through the membrane yielding whey permeate. Research shows that bovine milk from healthy cows contains hundreds of naturally occurring peptides – many of which are homologous with known antimicrobial and immunomodulatory peptides – and nearly 50 oligosaccharide compositions (not including structural isomers). As these endogenous peptides and oligosaccharides have low-molecular weight and whey permeate is currently an under-utilized product stream of the dairy industry, we hypothesized that whey permeate may serve as an inexpensive source of naturally occurring functional peptides and oligosaccharides. Laboratory fractionation of endogenous peptides and oligosaccharides from bovine colostrum sweet whey was expanded to pilot-scale. The membrane fractionation methodology used was similar to the methods commonly used industrially to produce whey protein concentrate and whey permeate. Pilot-scale fractionation was compared to laboratory-scale fractionation with regard to the identified peptides and oligosaccharide compositions. Results were interpreted on the basis of whether industrial whey permeate could eventually serve as a source of functional peptides and oligosaccharides. The majority (96%) of peptide sequences and the majority (96%) of oligosaccharide compositions found in the laboratory-scale process were mirrored in the pilot-scale process. Moreover, the pilot-scale process recovered an additional 33 peptides and 1 oligosaccharide not identified from the laboratory-scale extraction. Both laboratory- and pilot-scale processes yielded peptides deriving primarily from the protein β-casein. The similarity of the laboratory-and pilot-scale's resulting peptide and oligosaccharide profiles demonstrates that whey permeate can serve as an industrial-scale source of bovine milk peptides and oligosaccharides.

Rapid Screening of Bovine Milk Oligosaccharides in a Whey Permeate Product and Domestic Animal Milks by Accurate Mass Database and Tandem Mass Spectral Library

“…Recently, we demonstrated that whey permeate is a good source of prebiotic milk oligosaccharides. 21,32,33 The massive industrial quantities of bovine dairy streams can make large-scale isolation of oligosaccharides possible. Therefore, whey permeate is considered to be a source of functional compounds for novel product development.…”

Milk Glycans and Their Interaction with the Infant-Gut Microbiota

“…Whey permeate, a low-value by-product obtained after whey proteins have been recovered, contains BMOs and has the potential to serve as a raw material for large-scale oligosaccharide isolation (Dallas et al 2014, Zivkovic & Barile 2011). Membrane filtration can be used to recover oligosaccharides present in whey permeate (Cohen et al 2017, de Moura Bell et al 2016), making these compounds more readily available as a functional food ingredient.…”

Short communication: Quantification of carbohydrates in whey permeate products using high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection

“…More recent investigations of whey permeate from bovine colostrum produced at the pilot scale by membrane filtration revealed almost 50 individual oligosaccharide compositions (Dallas et al, 2014). Out of the 50 oligosaccharides, 3′-sialyllactose ( 3′SL ), 6′-sialyllactose ( 6′SL ), and 6′-sialyllactosamine ( 6′SLN ) were the most abundant.…”