Poster Presenter

Peptide Biomarkers for the Detection of Allergenic Proteins in Foods – in silico Studies
Jerzy Dziuba, Malgorzata Darewicz and Marta Dziuba
Poland

Bioinformatics tools and methods are today widely used to investigate the structure of biomacromolecules, to classify proteins in view of the similarities between sequential motifs, and to predict the functions of proteins based on their primary structure. The present study relied on the BIOPEP database of proteins and bioactive peptides (http://www.uwm.edu.pl/biochemia), developed at the Department of Food Biochemistry as part of an original research project. At the initial stage of the study, a classification system for allergenic proteins found in foods was proposed. Proteins were evaluated based on the profiles of their potential biological activity, with the use of such criteria as the frequency of occurrence of allergenic fragments in the polypeptide chain of a protein and the relative frequency of occurrence of such fragments. A database of allergenic proteins was created as a sub-database in BIOPEP. At the next stage of the study, in silico proteolysis processes were designed in view of the release of epitope sequences. This was followed by a search for molecular markers of the presence of allergenic proteins in food raw materials and ready-made products - an important consideration in the evaluation of food quality and safety. Based on the results of the study, proteolysis products showing the highest homology with their corresponding epitopes were identified for the proteins of cow's milk, chicken egg, cereal grains, soybean, fish, peanuts, sesame seeds, celery root and crustacea. Enzymes that could be used for releasing peptide biomarkers and identifying allergenic proteins were also determined. The expected HPLC retention time was calculated for each biomarker.