RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 34 (3) September 2022, p. 453-464

ANTIFUNGAL AND ANTIOXIDANT PEPTIDES FROM OIL PALM MESOCARPS

BENJAMIN LAU YII CHUNG1 *; ABRIZAH OTHMAN1 and UMI SALAMAH RAMLI1

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2022.0004
Received: 24 June 2021   Accepted: 15 November 2021   Published Online: 28 January 2022
ABSTRACT

Phytochemicals and bioactive peptides have been discovered in oil palm organs such as kernel and leaf, but there is no documented study in isolating peptides with bioactivities from fruit mesocarps. In this work, we aimed to determine the bioactivity of the peptides derived from hydrolysis of oil palm fruit mesocarps. The fruit mesocarps were subjected to enzyme hydrolysis using trypsin and pepsin, followed by separation of these peptides through liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and database searching.Analysis of bioactivity from 25% and 30% fractions (trypsinised), and 10% and 30% fractions (pepsinised) showed inhibitory effect towards the growth of Ganoderma boninense. In antioxidant assay, only nonfractionated protein hydrolysate with trypsin and pepsin showed a scavenging activity of 17.7%-22.3%for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl. We further determined the possible occurrence of antimicrobial activityin silico by matching the experimental peptide sequences to known bioactive peptides. Four antimicrobialpeptides were found in fractionated mesocarp hydrolysates using trypsin and pepsin. These bioactive peptides had molecular masses of less than 4-5 kiloDalton (kDa) and made of 11-39 amino acid residues. A total of23%-54% hydrophobic amino acids were found within these sequences. The results showed that the oil palm mesocarps contained peptides with various bioactivities that could be bioprospected into functional constituents with health and crop protection benefits.

KEYWORDS:


1 Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

* Corresponding author e-mail: benjamin@mpob.gov.my