Enzymatic production of bioactive peptides from scotta, an exhausted by-product of ricotta cheese processing

PLoS One. 2019 Dec 30;14(12):e0226834. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226834. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The present work reports the enzymatic valorisation of the protein fraction of scotta, a dairy by-product representing the exhausted liquid residue of ricotta production. Scotta was subjected to ultra-filtration with membrane cut-offs from 500 to 4 kDa and the obtained protein-enriched fractions were used for the optimization of enzyme-based digestions aimed at producing potentially bioactive peptides. Nine different commercial proteases were tested and the best digestion conditions were selected based on protein yield, fraction bioactivity and foreseen scale up processing costs. Scale up of the 3% Pancreatin or 5% Papain processes was performed up to 2 L (37°C or 60°C respectively, 1 h incubation), and the digestion efficiency increased with the reaction volume as well as antioxidant activity (up to 60 gBSA eq/L and to 1.7 gAA eq/L). Retentate 1 digested fractions also showed, for the first time in dairy-based peptides, anti-tyrosinase activity, up to 0.14 gKA eq/L. Digested proteins were sub-fractionated by means of physical membrane separations and 30-10 kDa fraction from Papain treatment showed the highest antioxidant and anti-tyrosinase activities. The peptide sequence of the most bioactive fractions was achieved.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Antioxidants*
  • Cheese*
  • Monophenol Monooxygenase / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Pancreatin / metabolism
  • Papain / metabolism
  • Peptide Hydrolases / metabolism*
  • Peptides / analysis*
  • Peptides / pharmacology
  • Proteins / metabolism
  • Ultrafiltration

Substances

  • Antioxidants
  • Peptides
  • Proteins
  • Pancreatin
  • Monophenol Monooxygenase
  • Peptide Hydrolases
  • Papain

Grants and funding

The present work was financed by Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, National Project Cluster Agrifood SO.FI.A (SOstenibilità della FIliera Agroalimentare) (2013- 2017, Grant Number CTN01_00230_450760) to AT, CR, AVZ, ED. Granarolo S.p.A. provided support in the form of salaries for authors [AVZ, ED], research materials and study design.