Extended Cheese Whey Fermentation Produces a Novel Casein-Derived Antibacterial Polypeptide That Also Inhibits Gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9.

Maria Isabel Santos,Ana Lima,Ricardo Boavida Ferreira,Patrícia Rebelo,Isabel Sousa,Joana Mota,Laurentina Pedroso,Maria Adélia Ferreira

doi:10.3390/ijms222011130

Maria Isabel Santos, Ana Lima + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222011130

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Abstract

Our previous works produced a whey fermentation methodology that yielded antibacterial activity and potential inhibition of matrix metalloproteases (MMP)-2 and -9. Here, we evaluated if these activities were due to fermentation-produced peptides. Prolonged fermentation was carried out in the presence of our specific lactic acid bacteria (LAB) consortium. LAB fermentation yielded a total of 11 polypeptides, which were predominantly produced after 6 days of fermentation. One which was derived from beat casein presented a particularly high antibacterial activity against food pathogenic bacteria and was more effective than standard food disinfectants. This polypeptide was further studied and was also found to be active against several strains of pathogenic bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), in a dose-dependent manner. It also inhibited MMP-2 and MMP-9 whilst reducing HT29 cancer cell migration in vitro. Overall, this novel whey-derived polypeptide presents dual antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity, revealing a strong potential to be used in functional foods or as a nutraceutical. Its identification and further characterization can open novel perspectives in the field of preventive/curative diets related to gut microbiota, gut inflammation, and cancer prevention, particularly if used in in vivo studies.

Highlights

Whilst milk proteins have long been recognized as major sources of bioactive and nutritional components, an increasing body of research in bioactive peptides derived from milk and whey has been gradually opening up a novel range of possibilities in functional foods and nutraceuticals [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Our preliminary results suggested that our fermented whey can reduce the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), gelatinases matrix metalloproteases (MMP)-2 and MMP-9, which are important key players in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]
Bacterial strains are known to produce specific peptides to inhibit the growth of other species—for instance, Lactococcus lactis is known to produce nisin, Lactobacillus plantarum is known to produce plantaricin, etc

Summary

Introduction

Whilst milk proteins have long been recognized as major sources of bioactive and nutritional components, an increasing body of research in bioactive peptides derived from milk and whey has been gradually opening up a novel range of possibilities in functional foods and nutraceuticals [1,2,3,4,5,6]. One possible way to overcome this would be inducing proteolysis through lactic acid bacteria (LAB) fermentation. We found that prolonged low-cost fermentation (5-day fermentation) technology using a specific starter could induce high antibacterial activity against a broad range of strains, including Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica Goldcoast, and Escherichia coli O157. This was found when using a fermented disinfecting agent for minimally processed salads; this fermented whey was just as effective as chlorine [10,11]. Isolation and identification of these peptides produced by prolonged whey fermentation may have high potential in the area of food bioactive compounds and nutraceuticals

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