Atheroprotective effect of novel peptides from Porphyridium purpureum in RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line and its molecular docking study

Microalgae: A Promising Source of Bioactive Phycobiliproteins

Phycobiliproteins are photosynthetic light-harvesting pigments isolated from microalgae with fluorescent, colorimetric and biological properties, making them a potential commodity in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. Hence, improving their metabolic yield is of great interest. In this regard, the present review aimed, first, to provide a detailed and thorough overview of the optimization of culture media elements, as well as various physical parameters, to improve the large-scale manufacturing of such bioactive molecules. The second section of the review offers systematic, deep and detailed data about the current main features of phycobiliproteins. In the ultimate section, the health and nutritional claims related to these bioactive pigments, explaining their noticeable potential for biotechnological uses in various fields, are examined.

Generation of Bioactive Peptides from Porphyridium sp. and Assessment of Their Potential for Use in the Prevention of Hypertension, Inflammation and Pain

Inflammation, hypertension, and negative heart health outcomes including cardiovascular disease are closely linked but the mechanisms by which inflammation can cause high blood pressure are not yet fully elucidated. Cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes play a role in pain, inflammation, and hypertension development, and inhibition of these enzymes is currently of great interest to researchers and pharmaceutical companies. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are the drug of choice in terms of COX inhibition but can have negative side effects for consumers. Functional food ingredients containing cyclooxygenase inhibitors offer a strategy to inhibit cyclooxygenases without negative side effects. Several COX inhibitors have been discovered, to date, from marine and other resources. We describe here, for the first time, the generation and characterization of a bioactive hydrolysate generated using Viscozyme® and Alcalase from the red microalga Porphyridium sp. The hydrolysate demonstrates in vitro COX-1 inhibitory activity and antihypertensive activity in vivo, assessed using spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). Peptides were identified and sequenced using MS and assessed using an in silico computational approach for potential bioactivities. The peptides predicted to be bioactive, including GVDYVRFF, AIPAAPAAPAGPKLY, and LIHADPPGVGL were chemically synthesized and cyclooxygenase inhibition was confirmed. Peptides AIPAAPAAPAGPKLY and LIHADPPGVGL had COX-1 IC50 values of 0.2349 mg/mL (0.16 µM) and 0.2193 mg/mL (0.2 µM), respectively. The hydrolysate was included in a food carrier (jelly candies) and an antihypertensive effect was observed in SHRs.

Phycobiliproteins from algae: Current updates in sustainable production and applications in food and health

Phycobiliproteins are light-harvesting complexes found mainly in cyanobacteria and red algae, playing a key role in photosynthesis. They are extensively applied in food, cosmetics, and biomedical industry due to bright color, unique fluorescence characteristics and diverse physiological activities. They have received much attention in the past few decades because of their green and sustainable production, safe application, and functional diversity. This work aimed to provide a comprehensive summary of parameters affecting the whole bioprocess with a special focus on the extraction and purification, which directly determines the application of phycobiliproteins. Food grade phycobiliproteins are easy to prepare, whereas analytical grade phycobiliproteins are extremely complex and costly to produce. Most phycobiliproteins are denatured and inactivated at high temperatures, severely limiting their application. Inspired by recent advances, future perspectives are put forward, including (1) the mutagenesis and screening of algal strains for higher phycobiliprotein productivity, (2) the application of omics and genetic engineering for stronger phycobiliprotein stability, and (3) the utilization of synthetic biology and heterologous expression systems for easier phycobiliprotein isolation. This review will give a reference for exploring more phycobiliproteins for food and health application development.

Phycobiliproteins: Structural aspects, functional characteristics, and biotechnological perspectives

Phycobiliproteins (PBPs) are fluorescent proteins of various colors, including fuchsia, purple-blue and cyan, that allow the capture of light energy in auxiliary photosynthetic complexes called phycobilisomes (PBS). PBPs have several highly preserved structural and physicochemical characteristics. In the PBS context, PBPs function is capture luminous energy in the 450–650 nm range and delivers it to photosystems allowing photosynthesis take place. Besides the energy harvesting function, PBPs also have shown to have multiple biological activities, including antioxidant, antibacterial and antitumours, making them an interesting focus for different biotechnological applications in areas like biomedicine, bioenergy and scientific research. Nowadays, the main sources of PBPs are cyanobacteria and micro and macro algae from the phylum Rhodophyta. Due to the diverse biological activities of PBPs, they have attracted the attention of different industries, such as food, biomedical and cosmetics. This is why a large number of patents related to the production, extraction, purification of PBPs and their application as cosmetics, biopharmaceuticals or diagnostic applications have been generated, looking less ecological impact in the natural prairies of macroalgae and less culture time or higher productivity in cyanobacteria to satisfy the markets and applications that require high amounts of these molecules. In this review, we summarize the main structural characteristics of PBPs, their biosynthesys and biotechnological applications. We also address current trends and future perspectives of the PBPs market.

Characterization of isolated compounds from Morus spp. and their biological activity as anticancer molecules

Introduction: The genus Morus is well known for its medicinal benefits from time immemorial. The present work reported the health-promoting properties of the biologically active molecules present in different species of the genus Morus.

Methods: Different solvent extracts of the three plant species of Morus were investigated initially for their antioxidant effects, followed by in vitro anticancer studies against MCF7 and 3T3 cell lines along with their bioactive isolates viz. cathafuran-B, moracin-M, and Ursolic acid. Further, in silico docking studies were performed for the isolated compounds to predict their probable mode of interaction with P38Map Kinase.

Results: The results indicated that all three species under study possessed remarkable antioxidant effects which are supported by a linear and positive correlation between different antioxidant activities. The in vitro cell antiproliferative test indicated that the cell survivability decreased with an increase in the concentration of extracts and compounds. Among the extracts, M. laevigata methanol extract showed 21.57, 6.27% of cell survival against MCF7 and 3T3 cell lines at 800 µg/mL concentration while among the isolated compounds, ursolic acid showed 8.46, 17.58% of cell survival at 200 µg/mL concentration. Among the three compounds docked, ursolic acid showed greater binding affinity towards the target protein in terms of its binding energy (-9.97 kJ/mol) compared to Cathafuran B (-8.35 kJ/mol) and Moracin M (-6.91 kJ/mol).

Conclusion: The study generated interesting results in terms of health benefits of Morus species by documenting their antioxidant and anticancer activities, thereby validating the folk claims of therapeutic benefits of mulberry.

Proline-containing peptides-New insight and implications: A Review

The family of regulatory proline-containing peptides (PCPs), also known as glyprolines, exhibit significant biological activity. The group of glyprolines includes Gly-Pro (GP), Pro-Gly-Pro (PGP), cyclic Gly-Pro (cGP), as well as PGP derivatives, for example, N-acetylated PGP (N-a-PGP) and N-methylated PGP (N-m-PGP). PCPs are engaged in various biological processes including the proinflammatory neutrophil chemoattraction in lung diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases or ischemic stroke. Glyprolines have been also postulated to play an important role as atheroprotective and anticoagulant agents, exhibit neuroprotective effects in Parkinson's disease, as well as regulate insulin-like growth factor (IGF) homeostasis. It was also noticed that PCPs inhibit proliferation and migration of keratinocytes in wound healing, protection of the gastric mucosa and stimulation of its regeneration. The regulatory glyprolines are derived from endogenous and exogenous sources. Most PCPs are derived from collagen or diet protein degradation. Recently, great interest is concentrated on short proline-rich oligopeptides derived from IGF-1 degradation. The mechanism of PCPs biological activity is not fully explained. It involves receptor-mediated mechanisms, for example, N-a-PGP acts as CXCR1/2 receptor ligand, whereas cGP regulates IGF-1 bioavailability by modifying the IGF-1 binding to the IGF-1 binding protein-3. PGP has been observed to interact with collagen-specific receptors. The data suggest a promising role of PGP as a target of various diseases therapy. This review is focused on the effect of PCPs on metabolic processes in different tissues and the molecular mechanism of their action as an approach to pharmacotherapy of PCPs-dependent diseases.