Changes in the amino acid profiles and free radical scavenging activities of Tenebrio molitor larvae following enzymatic hydrolysis

PLoS One. 2018 May 4;13(5):e0196218. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196218. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Tenebrio molitor (T. molitor) larvae provide food at low environmental cost and contribute positively to livelihoods. In this research, we compared the amino acids compositions and antioxidant activities of various extracts of T. molitor to enhance their quality as food. For the comparison, distilled water extracts, enzymatic hydrolysates, and condensed enzymatic hydrolysates of T. molitor larvae were prepared. Their amino acids (AAs) profiles and antioxidant activities, including ferric-reducing antioxidant power, oxygen radical absorption capacity, and DPPH, hydroxyl radical, and hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging properties assay were analyzed. DW extracts had the lowest AAs contents and antioxidant activity compared with enzymatic extracts. Condensed hydrolysates with a combination of alcalase and flavourzyme (C-A+F) exhibited the highest levels of total free AAs (11.1759 g/100 g). C-A+F produced higher total hydrolyzed AAs (32.5292 g/100 g) compared with the other groups. The C-A+F possessed the strongest antioxidant activity. Notably, the antioxidant activities of the hydrolysates and the total hydrolyzed AAs amount were correlated. Taken together, our findings showed that C-A+F was a promising technique for obtaining extracts of T. molitor larvae with antioxidant activity as potential nutritious functional food.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Endopeptidases / metabolism*
  • Free Radical Scavengers / metabolism*
  • Hydrolysis
  • Hydroxyl Radical / metabolism
  • Larva / growth & development
  • Larva / metabolism*
  • Lipid Peroxidation
  • Protein Hydrolysates / metabolism*
  • Subtilisins / metabolism*
  • Tenebrio / growth & development
  • Tenebrio / metabolism*

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Free Radical Scavengers
  • Protein Hydrolysates
  • Hydroxyl Radical
  • Endopeptidases
  • flavourzyme
  • Subtilisins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (IPET) through the Agri-Bio industry Technology Development Program (316027-5 & 116083-3) funded by Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA to E-K Kim), and the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (NRF-2017R1D1A1B03036247 to E-K Kim). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.