Abstract
To characterize the high‐value protein content and to discover new bioactive peptides, present in edible organisms, as silkworm pupae, semiquantitative analytical approach has been applied. The combination of appropriate protein extraction methods, semiquantitative high‐resolution mass spectrometry analyses of peptides, in silico bioactivity and gene ontology analyses, allowed protein profiling of silkworm pupae (778 gene products) and the characterization of bioactive peptides. The semiquantitative analysis, based on the measurement of the emPAI, revealed the presence of high‐abundance class of proteins, such as larval storage protein (LSP) class. This class of proteins, beside its nutrient reservoir activity, is of great pharmaceutical interest for their efficacy in cardiovascular diseases. Potential allergens were also characterized and quantified, such as arginine kinase, thiol peroxiredoxin, and Bom m 9. This powerful bioanalytical approach proved the potential industrial applications of Bombyx mori pupae, as source of high‐value proteins in a green and “circular” economy perspective.
Highlights
Insects are a source of essential nutrients, such as proteins, fat, minerals, and vitamins, and of micronutrients, such as copper, iron, manganese, and riboflavin
Silkworms (Bombyx mori), including mulberry and non-mulberry silkworm pupae, are a typical Asian food consumed from ancient times due to their high protein content
An estimation of the protein contents in the complex mixtures was obtained by calculating the values of exponentially modified PAI (emPAI), normalized by the PSMs values, and add an important quantitative information to proteomic results here shown
Summary
Insects are a source of essential nutrients, such as proteins, fat, minerals, and vitamins, and of micronutrients, such as copper, iron, manganese, and riboflavin. Following the reintroduction of sericulture in Italy, owing to the consolidated expertise of the CREA-API excellence research center in Padua, the production of Italian silk is going to start again on an industrial scale, increasing production of pupae too Due to this fact, the silk industry might induce a real “circular economy,” producing raw material for other high added value production processes in different industrial fields, as silk industry biorefineries. Other studies showed a high content of essential amino acids, such as 77% of Lys and 70% of Leu in pupae (Rumpold & Schlüter, 2013) Another aspect to consider is the presence of potentially protein allergens, such as Bom m 9, chitinase, and paramyosin, and thiol peroxiredoxin that induce allergic asthma (Wang et al, 2016; Zhao, Li, Kuang, Luo, & Li, 2015; Zuo, Lei, Yang, & Liu, 2015). Proteins were quantified by a colorimetric Bradford assay using BSA as standard
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