AI-assisted discovery of dual antioxidant and ACE-inhibitory peptides from Hericium erinaceus.

From the paper

Abstract

Hericium erinaceus harbored rich peptides, however their biofunctional properties remained unclear. In this study, Hericium erinaceus protein hydrolysates (HEph) were analyzed using a large language model (LLM)-assisted annotation workflow on the DeepSeek platform, combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, antioxidant, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory assays and cellular evaluations. Results showed that AI accurately annotated 7 functional peptides in HEph, and both these peptides and HEph exhibited anti-oxidant/ACE activities. All the annotated peptides were safe for human umbilical vein endothelial cells at tested doses, while certain ones modulated ROS, SOD, eNOS, and ET-1, VDYP and IHPTPESVFASHKHLFPPLP exhibited both dual anti-oxidant/ACE activities. Molecular docking indicated that peptide anti-oxidant/ACE activities were associated with the distribution of hydrophilic and aromatic residues. Overall, this study demonstrated the utility of LLMs assisted annotation for literature-grounded peptide curation and prioritization, uncovering atypical potential functional peptides, providing a strategy for the development of Hericium erinaceus peptides in functional foods.