Peptidomics as a Tool to Assess the Cleavage of Wine Haze Proteins by Peptidases from Drosophila suzukii Larvae

Wendell Albuquerque; Parviz Ghezellou; Kwang-Zin Lee; Quintus Schneider; Phillip Gross; Tobias Kessel; Bodunrin Omokungbe; Bernhard Spengler; Andreas Vilcinskas; Holger Zorn; Martin Gand

doi:10.3390/biom13030451

Peptidomics as a Tool to Assess the Cleavage of Wine Haze Proteins by Peptidases from Drosophila suzukii Larvae

Biomolecules. 2023 Feb 28;13(3):451. doi: 10.3390/biom13030451.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Food Chemistry and Food Biotechnology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
² Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
³ Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Ohlebergsweg 12, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
⁴ Institute for Insect Biotechnology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392 Giessen, Germany.

Abstract

Thermolabile grape berry proteins such as thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) and chitinases (CHIs) promote haze formation in bottled wines if not properly fined. As a natural grapevine pest, the spotted-wing fly Drosophila suzukii is a promising source of peptidases that break down grape berry proteins because the larvae develop and feed inside mature berries. Therefore, we produced recombinant TLP and CHI as model thermolabile wine haze proteins and applied a peptidomics strategy to investigate whether D. suzukii larval peptidases were able to digest them under acidic conditions (pH 3.5), which are typically found in winemaking practices. The activity of the novel peptidases was confirmed by mass spectrometry, and cleavage sites within the wine haze proteins were visualized in 3D protein models. The combination of recombinant haze proteins and peptidomics provides a valuable screening tool to identify optimal peptidases suitable for clarification processes in the winemaking industry.

Keywords: Drosophila suzukii; chitinases; peptidases; peptidomics; recombinant proteins; thaumatin-like proteins; wine haze.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Drosophila / metabolism
Larva / metabolism
Plant Proteins / metabolism
Vitis* / chemistry
Wine* / analysis

Substances

Plant Proteins

Grants and funding

We acknowledge the financial support from the Research Association of the German Food Industry (FEI) via the program for promoting Industrial Collective Research (IGF), grant number AiF 20911 N of the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), based on a resolution of the German Parliament. P.Gh. and B.S. acknowledge financial support from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (INST 162/500-1 FUGG) and the State of Hesse via the LOEWE Center DRUID (Novel Drug Targets against Poverty-Related and Neglected Tropical Infectious Diseases) and the LOEWE Center Insect Biotechnology and Bioresources (A.V. and H.Z.).