Lactic Acid Bacteria as Cell Factories for the Generation of Bioactive Peptides

BROWN L; VERA PINGITORE E; MOZZI, F; SAAVEDRA L; VILLEGAS J; HEBERT EM

Protein & Peptide Letters

Bentham Science

Año: 2017 vol. 24 p. 1 - 10

1875-5305

There is a growing interest in the incorporation of functional foods in the daily diet toachieve health promotion and disease risk reduction. Numerous studies have focused on the productionof biologically active peptides as nutraceuticals and functional food ingredients due to theirhealth benefits. These short peptides, displaying antihypertensive, antioxidant, mineral binding, immunomodulatoryand antimicrobial activities are hidden in a latent state within the primary sequencesof food proteins requiring enzymatic proteolysis for their release. While microbial fermentationis one of the major and economically most convenient processes used to generate bioactive peptides,lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are widely used as starter cultures for the production of diverse fermentedfoods. This article reviews the current knowledge on LAB as cell factories for the productionof bioactive peptides from a variety of food protein sources. These microorganisms depend on acomplex proteolytic system to ensure successful fermentation processes. In the dairy industry, LABcontaining cell envelope-associated proteinases (CEPs) are employed as biocatalysts for the first stepof casein breakdown releasing bioactive peptides during milk fermentation. A better understandingof the functionality and regulation of the proteolytic system of LAB opens up future opportunities forthe production of novel food-derived compounds with potential health-promoting properties