Amino acid composition and antioxidative peptides from protein hydrolysates of yellow stripe Trevally (Selaroides leptolepis)

Hydrolysates from yellow stripe trevally meat with 15% degree of hydrolysis (DH) obtained using Alcalase (HA) and Flavourzyme (HF) following pH-stat method were characterized. Both hydrolysates, HA and HF, contained glutamic acid and glutamine as the major amino acids, while glycine was the dominant amino acid in fish flesh. Hydrolysates were also rich in aspartic acid, asparagine, alanine, lysine, and leucine. Essential amino acid/nonessential amino acid ratios were 0.55, 0.63, and 0.62 for flesh, HA, and HF, respectively. After separation on a Sephadex G-50 column, antioxidative activity of hydrolysate fractions was determined as Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity. The fraction of HF with molecular weight (MW) of 1.77 kDa exhibited the strongest antioxidative activity, compared with other fractions. Among all fractions of HA, the one having a MW of 2.44 kDa showed the highest antioxidative activity. Thereafter, the selected Sephadex G-50 fractions from both HA and HF were further chromatographed using a Sephadex C-25 column, followed by HPLC. MW of antioxidative peptides from HA and HF determined by Maldi TOF/TOF was 656 and 617 Da, respectively. However, peptides isolated from both HA and HF possessed a lower antioxidative activity than Trolox at the same concentration (P < 0.05). HA and HF prevented DNA oxidative damage in Fenton reaction system tested by in vitro plasmid DNA relaxation assay. These results indicate that hydrolysates from yellow stripe trevally can be used as an important source of amino acids and serve as alternative natural antioxidants.