A workflow for the characterization of food-derived bioactive peptides is described in this chapter. The workflow integrates two consecutive steps: a discovery phase and a protein-based bioinformatic phase. In the first step (discovery phase), a shotgun bottom-up proteomics approach is used to create a reference data set for a selected food proteome. Afterward, in a second step (bioinformatic phase), the reference proteome is subjected to several in silico protein-based bioinformatic analyses to predict and characterize potential bioactive peptides after an in silico human gastrointestinal digestion. Using this workflow, bioactive collagen peptides, antihypertensive, antimicrobial, and antitumor peptides were predicted as potential valuable bioactive peptides from seafood and marine by-products. It is concluded that the combination of the global shotgun proteomic analysis and the analysis by protein-based bioinformatics can provide a rapid strategy for the characterization of new potential food-derived bioactive peptides.
Keywords: Bioactive peptides; Food; Marine by-product; Mass spectrometry (MS); Protein-based bioinformatics; Seafood; Shotgun proteomics.