Complexation of bovine lactoferrin with selected phenolic acids via non-covalent interactions: binding mechanism and altered functionality

Cuina Wang; Yingcong Lu; Boxue Xia; Xiang Li; Xin Huang; Chao Dong

doi:10.3168/jds.2023-24088

Complexation of bovine lactoferrin with selected phenolic acids via non-covalent interactions: binding mechanism and altered functionality

J Dairy Sci. 2024 Feb 16:S0022-0302(24)00487-9. doi: 10.3168/jds.2023-24088. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Cuina Wang¹, Yingcong Lu², Boxue Xia², Xiang Li², Xin Huang², Chao Dong³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Science, College of Food Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130062, China. Electronic address: wangcuina@jlu.edu.cn.
² Department of Food Science, College of Food Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130062, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130021, China. Electronic address: dongchao@jlu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38369115
DOI: 10.3168/jds.2023-24088

Abstract

Non-covalent interactions of 4 selected phenolic acids, including gallic acid (GA), caffeic acid (CA), chlorogenic acid (CGA), and rosmarinic acid (RA) with lactoferrin (LF) were investigated. Compound combined with LF in the binding constant of CA > GA > RA > CGA, driven by van der Waals (vdW) and hydrogen bonding (H-bonds) for GA, and hydrophobic forces for others. Conformation of LF was impacted at secondary and ternary structure levels. Molecular docking indicated that GA and CA located in the same site near the iron of the C-lobe, while RA and CGA bound to the C2 and N-lobe, respectively. Significantly enhanced antioxidant activity of complexes was found compared with pure LF (P < 0.05), as demonstrated by DPPH, ABTS, FRAP models. CA, CGA, and RA significantly decreased the ESI and improved foam ability of LF (P < 0.05), and the effect of CA and RA was the most remarkable, respectively.

Keywords: caffeic acid; chlorogenic acid; gallic acid; lactoferrin; rosmarinic acid.

© 2024, The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. and Fass Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).