In order to rapidly and efficiently excavate antihypertensive ingredients in Todarodes pacificus, its myosin heavy chain was hydrolyzed in silico and the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides were predicted using integrated bioinformatics tools. The results showed the degree of hydrolysis (DH) theoretically achieved 56.8% when digested with papain, ficin, and prolyl endopeptidase (PREP), producing 126 ACE inhibitory peptides. By predicting the toxicity, allergenicity, gastrointestinal stability, and intestinal epithelial permeability, 30 peptides were finally screened, of which 21 had been reported and 9 were new. Moreover, the newly discovered peptides were synthesized to evaluate their in vitro ACE inhibition, showing Ile-Ile-Tyr and Asn-Pro-Pro-Lys had strong effects with a pIC50 of 4.58 and 4.41, respectively. Further, their interaction mechanisms and bonding configurations with ACE were explored by molecular simulation. The preferred conformation of Ile-Ile-Tyr and Asn-Pro-Pro-Lys located in ACE were successfully predicted using the appropriate docking parameters. The molecular dynamics (MD) result indicated that they bound tightly to the active site of ACE by means of coordination with Zn(II) and hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interaction with the residues in the pockets of S1 and S2, resulting in stable complexes. In summary, this work proposed a strategy for screening and identifying antihypertensive peptides from Todarodes pacificus.
Keywords: ACE inhibitory peptides; Todarodes pacificus; molecular docking; molecular dynamics.