Emide Davide, Periccioli Lorenzo, Pasquali Matias, Scaglia Barbara, De Benedetti Stefano, Scarafoni Alessio, Magni Chiara
Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), Università degli Studi di Milano, Via G. Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy.
Department of Industrial Engineering (DII), University of Padova, Via Gradenigo 6/A, 35100 Padova, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Aug 1;26(15):7438. doi: 10.3390/ijms26157438.
In the context of the valorization of agri-food by-products, tomato ( L.) seeds represent a protein-rich matrix containing potential bioactives. The aim of the present work is to develop a biochemical pipeline for (i) achieving high protein recovery from tomato seed, (ii) optimizing the hydrolysis with different proteases, and (iii) characterizing the resulting peptides. This approach was instrumental for obtaining and selecting the most promising peptide mixture to test for antifungal activity. To this purpose, proteins from an alkaline extraction were treated with bromelain, papain, and pancreatin, and the resulting hydrolysates were assessed for their protein/peptide profiles via SDS-PAGE, SEC-HPLC, and RP-HPLC. Bromelain hydrolysate was selected for antifungal tests due to its greater quantity of peptides, in a broader spectrum of molecular weights and polarity/hydrophobicity profiles, and higher DPPH radical scavenging activity, although all hydrolysates exhibited antioxidant properties. In vitro assays demonstrated that the bromelain-digested proteins inhibited the growth of and f.sp. in a dose-dependent manner, with a greater effect at a concentration of 0.1 mg/mL. The findings highlight that the enzymatic hydrolysis of tomato seed protein represents a promising strategy for converting food by-products into bioactive agents with agronomic applications, supporting sustainable biotechnology and circular economy strategies.
在农业食品副产品增值的背景下，番茄（L.）种子是一种富含蛋白质的基质，含有潜在的生物活性物质。本研究的目的是开发一种生化流程，用于（i）从番茄种子中实现高蛋白回收率，（ii）用不同蛋白酶优化水解过程，以及（iii）表征所得肽段。这种方法有助于获得和选择最有前景的肽混合物以测试其抗真菌活性。为此，用菠萝蛋白酶、木瓜蛋白酶和胰蛋白酶处理碱性提取得到的蛋白质，并通过SDS-PAGE、SEC-HPLC和RP-HPLC对所得水解产物的蛋白质/肽谱进行评估。菠萝蛋白酶水解产物因其肽含量更高、分子量和极性/疏水性谱更宽，以及更高的DPPH自由基清除活性而被选用于抗真菌测试，尽管所有水解产物都表现出抗氧化特性。体外试验表明，菠萝蛋白酶消化的蛋白质以剂量依赖的方式抑制 和 f.sp. 的生长，在浓度为0.1 mg/mL时效果更佳。研究结果突出表明，番茄种子蛋白的酶促水解是将食品副产品转化为具有农艺应用的生物活性剂的一种有前景的策略，支持可持续生物技术和循环经济战略。
