Isolation of Antimicrobial Peptide from Food Protein Hydrolysates: An Overview

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most serious public health threats that results mostly from the selective pressure exerted by antibiotic use and abuse. AMR has become a major problem with global human deaths due to antibiotic resistant infections predicted to reach 10 million by 2050. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) has been discovered to have capabilities to kill microorganisms and can take other roles as an alternative to antibiotics which is favorable to the need of minimizing the usage of antibiotics as they lead to the increasing of AMR. AMP can be found naturally in almost all domains of life as part of the innate immune system to combat virus, bacteria, fungi and even cancer cells. It can also be extracted from food proteins using enzymatic hydrolysis. High antimicrobial properties/activities are depend on the degree of hydrolysis (DH) of peptides, peptide source/origin, and type of enzyme used for the hydrolysis process. There are several other variables that can be manipulated to optimum condition to obtain high DH. Variables such as temperature, pH, enzyme concentration and hydrolysis time have proven to bring impact to the DH of peptides. Other bioactive peptides that have been discovered during the process have great potential to bring benefit in medicinal and nutraceutical areas.