Novel iron-chelating peptide from egg yolk: Preparation, characterization, and iron transportation

• Published in: Food Chemistry: X 2023-06, Vol.18, p.100692-100692, Article 100692
• Main Authors: Liu, Ying, Wang, Zhuo, Kelimu, Abulimiti, Korma, Sameh A., Cacciotti, Ilaria, Xiang, Huan, Cui, Chun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chelating mechanisms; Egg yolk protein; Enzymatic hydrolysis; Iron bioavailability; Iron chelate
• ISSN: 2590-1575; 2590-1575
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100692

•Iron-chelating peptide was prepared by using enzymolysis and ethanol fractionation.•Iron mainly chelated with carboxyl, amino and phosphate groups of peptides.•A molecular model of DDSSS*S*S*S*S*SVLSK-Fe was simulated.•The E3-Fe chelate owned a good heat, alkalinity and digestion tolerance.•The iron in the E3-Fe would be absorbed more effectively than that of iron salts. In this work, an egg yolk protein hydrolysate (EYPH) with a high iron-chelating ability (87.32%) was prepared. The fractionation using 60% (v/v) ethanol concentration (E3 fraction) led to the efficiently accumulating the iron-chelating peptides in EYPH. The characterization results showed that iron mainly chelated with carboxyl, amino and phosphate groups of peptides. From E3 fraction, six iron-chelating peptides with MW ranging from 1372.36 to 2937.04 Da were identified and a hypothesized molecular model of DDSSSpSpSpSpSpSVLSK-Fe was simulated. In vitro stability determination showed that E3-Fe chelate owned a good heat, alkalinity and digestion tolerance, but a relatively bad acid tolerance. Finally, iron transport analysis showed that iron in the E3-Fe would be absorbed in caco-2 cell membrane more effectively than that of iron salts, indicating that it was possible to apply the E3-Fe complex as iron supplements.