Perspectives in the Use of Peptidomics in Ham

Abstract

The use of proteomics in food science has permitted both a better characterization of the food products and the control of their final quality despite the fact that food systems are under continuous changes during processing and consumption. Ham is a very popular meat product frequently consumed in Mediterranean countries after a dry-curing processing that results in the generation of large amounts of peptides that contribute to its texture, flavor, and final quality. Proteolysis is the main biochemical mechanism occurring throughout the dry-cured ham processing and a better knowledge of this phenomenon is essential to give an extra value to the product and produce regular batches. In this regard, peptidomics has become an important tool for the characterization of dry-cured hams in order to identify and quantify bioactive peptides and potential biomarkers, study their stability under processing conditions or gastrointestinal digestion, and search for post-translational modifications that could affect the quality of dry-cured hams. This manuscript is reviewing from the first uses of comparative proteomics in dry-cured ham approaches to the most modern peptidomic studies and their contribution to the advance in meat science.

The relevance of dipeptides and tripeptides in the bioactivity and taste of dry-cured ham

“…Dry-cured hams have been reported as a good source of bioactive peptides that are naturally generated by the intense action of endogenous enzymes during processing. The use of MS techniques has allowed the identification of several of these peptides, most of them with sequences of 5-10 amino acid residues and showing angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory, antioxidant, antilisterial and DPP IV inhibitory activities, as reviewed by Gallego, Mora, and Toldrá (Gallego et al 2018). However, gastrointestinal digestion and intestinal transport of the peptides for reaching their target sites can degrade or modify their structure, and thus the bioactivity will depend on the characteristics of the generated peptide fragments (Udenigwe and Aluko 2012).…”

Identification of dipeptides by MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry in long-processing Spanish dry-cured ham

“…Proteomic approaches can enhance the knowledge about biochemical processes, specially concerning the evolution of proteolysis during the processing of dry-cured meats, and they can also be used in the identification of biomarkers for meat quality traits ( Mora et al, 2016 ). Above all, peptidomics has become an important area for the characterisation of dry-cured hams in order to identify and quantitate potential biomarkers, bioactive and/or sensory peptides, but also allows to conduct studies on peptide profiling and bioavailability ( Gallego et al, 2018 , López-Pedrouso, Pérez-Santaescolástica, Franco, Fulladosa, & Carballo, 2018 ). However, the study of dipeptides show several challenges as they are frequently in the limit of some standard mass spectrometry (MS) techniques due to their small size and low abundance ( Panchaud et al, 2012 ).…”

Bioactive peptides generated in the processing of dry-cured ham

“…Recent advances in both mass spectrometry instruments and experimental approaches in food processing have given the opportunity for developing correct peptides analysis resulting from unspecific hydrolysis. The application of peptidomics tools to complex processes like dry-curing has allowed the possibility to follow up proteolysis and identify those peptides of interest Toldrá, 2018a and2018b). Furthermore, the use of peptidomic approach based on mass spectrometry detected differences between Spanish Teruel, Italian Parma and Belgian dry-cured hams due to the genetics and processing that differed between countries (Mora, Escudero & Toldrá, 2016) and the proteomic profile was also reported to differ in Jinhua ham between the traditional and modern processing (Zhou, Wu, Tang et al, 2019).…”

“…Assays for antioxidant activity determination included DPPH radical-scavenging activity, hydroxyl radical-scavenging activity, ABTS radicalscavenging activity, ferric-reducing antioxidant power, oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay (ORAC), and lipid peroxidation inhibition activity in linoleic acid emulsion. Most active identified antioxidant peptides were Ala-Glu-Glu-Glu-Tyr-Pro-Asp-Leu(Gallego et al, 2018a) and Ser-Asn-Ala-Ala-Cys(Gallego, Mora & Toldrá, 2018b) in Spanish ham, Asp-Leu-Glu-Glu in Xuanwei ham(Xing et al, 2016), and Gly-Lys-Phe-Asn-Val(Zhu et al, 2013) and Phe-Leu-Lys-Met-Asn, Leu-Pro-Gly-Gly-Gly-His-Gly-Asp-Leu, Leu-Pro-Gly-Gly-Gly-Thr and Lys-Glu-Glu-Arg(Zhu et al, 2016) in Jinhua ham.A comparison of the antioxidant profile of peptides extracted from Spanish Teruel, Italian Parma and Belgian dry-cured hams was performed after separation through size exclusion chromatography of the respective deproteinised extracts(Mora, Escudero &…”