Saccharomyces cerevisiae biomass as a source of next‐generation food preservatives: Evaluating potential proteins as a source of antimicrobial peptides

Abstract

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the main biotechnological tool for the production of Baker's or Brewer's biomasses, largely applied in beverage and fermentedfood production. Through its gene expression reprogramming and production of compounds that inactivate the growth of other microorganisms, S. cerevisiae is able to grow in adverse environments and in complex microbial consortia, as in fruit pulps and root flour fermentations. The distinct set of up-regulated genes throughout yeast biomass propagation includes those involved in sugar fermentation, ethanol metabolization, and in protective responses against abiotic stresses. These high abundant proteins are precursors of several peptides with promising health-beneficial activities such as antihypertensive, antioxidant, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory, anti-obesity, antidiabetes, and mitogenic properties. An in silico investigation of these S. cerevisiae derived peptides produced during yeast biomass propagation or induced by physicochemical treatments were performed using four algorithms to predict antimicrobial candidates encrypted in abundantly expressed stress-related proteins encoded by different genes like AHP1, TSA1, HSP26, SOD1, HSP10, and UTR2, or metabolic enzymes involved in carbon source utilization, like ENO1/2, TDH1/2/3, ADH1/2, FBA1, and PDC1. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and enolase II are noteworthy precursor proteins, since they exhibited the highest scores concerning the release of antimicrobial peptide candidates. Considering the set of genes upregulated during biomass propagation, we conclude that S. cerevisiae biomass, a food-grade product consumed and marketed worldwide, should be considered a safe and nonseasonal source for designing next-generation bioactive agents, especially protein encrypting antimicrobial peptides that display broad spectra activity and could reduce the emergence of microbial resistance while also avoiding cytotoxicity.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Identification of Antibacterial Peptide Candidates Encrypted in Stress-Related and Metabolic Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins

“…Other studies have reported in vitro and in vivo S. cerevisiae peptide health-promoting activities, including those attributed to brewer's yeast or baker's yeast, as mentioned previously [7]. Two saccharomycins, VSWYDNEYGYSTR and ISWYDNEYGYSAR, encrypted in glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) that converts glyceraldehyde-3phosphate to 1, 3 bis-phosphoglycerate in the glycolytic pathway, encoded by the TDH gene (isoforms 1, 2, or 3), have been reported and characterized as a killer-like toxin naturally secreted by S. cerevisiae, with the former detected in the FLPC fractions, especially Fraction 4 (Table S2) [29][30][31][32].…”

“…Besides its GRAS status, low-fat and low-sodium contents, and its ability to transform food matrices for human consumption, S. cerevisiae also provides nutritional and health-promoting compounds, such as amino acids, β-glucans and mannans, lipids, B-complex vitamins, minerals, and oligopeptides, which contribute to the management of diabetic foot ulcers by controlling fungal infections and wound healing, cholesterol levels, allergic symptoms, and microorganism growth [2,3,[19][20][21][22][23][24]. Spent brewer yeast or baker's yeast extracts, rich in oligopeptides, are widely marketed for dietary supplementation purposes, and their biological properties are explored to confirm the claimed bio-functionalities, such as antioxidant, antihypertensive, antimicrobial, alphaglucosidase inhibitor, anti-lipolysis, anti-diabetes, mitogenic, immunomodulatory, and anti-obesity properties [2,7,25].…”

“…Although research concerning the applicability of S. cerevisiae peptides is in progress, little is known regarding the identification and physicochemical characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae AMPs, as most assessments are dedicated to the inhibition of bacteria and yeasts enrolled in industrial manufacturing, such as in wine-making conditions [7].…”

“…When hydrolyzed, yeast-derived proteins release various bioactive peptides that can act against microbial pathogens. Although these antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have not been extensively studied, evidence demonstrates that they exhibit promising pharmacological potential against foodborne and infectious microorganisms [7]. In addition, AMPs are less prone to trigger bacterial resistance mechanisms compared to conventional antibiotics, although AMP-resistant bacteria have been described, albeit at a lower frequency.…”

In Silico Approach toward Analysing the Bioactive Effects of Spent Brewery Yeast Proteins

“…Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a yeast widely used in food and beverage production, was observed to provide a valuable source of different nutrients, the most important being the bioactive peptides which can become a major supporter in pharmaceutical therapies [1]. In this paper, the main aim was to predict in silico the health effects of bioactive peptides sourced from spent brewery yeast proteins, with a focus on their antihypertensive and antioxidant effects.…”