are seed proteins a problem or a boon? - · pdf fileare seed proteins a problem or a boon?...

EU Parliament STOA Workshop, Bruxelles, May 15th, 2008

Are seed proteins a problem or a boon?

Marcello Duranti, BiochemistDepartment of AgriFood Molecular Sciences

Faculty of AgricultureUniversity of Milan, Italy


Seed proteins

Main sources

Production

Nutritional factsProtein metabolic

fate

Concluding remarks

Antinutritional aspects Nutraceutical aspects

Marcello Duranti


Main seed sources of dietary proteins(figures are percentages)

Marcello Duranti

36.8Highest:

Soybean14.8Highest:

Rye

20.2Lowest:

Kidneybean

7.3Lowest:

Rice

Averageamount:

26.2

Legumes(including pulses

and oil crops)

Averageamount:

11.0

Cereals


Pulses and soybean world productionMarcello Duranti

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

1 2 3 4 5

Serie1

Serie2

120

60

%

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006


Very general nutritional facts on seed dietaryproteins (1/2)

Marcello Duranti

Legume and cereals are consumed by humanbeings as sources of starch, oil and proteinssince thousand of years

Man has developed a simple process to makethem fully edible, i.e. cooking. As a consequence, seed proteins are essentiallynutritious and safe


Very general nutritional facts on dietary seedproteins (2/2)

Marcello Duranti

The relative unbalance of some essential amino acid intake is overcome with the combination of cereal and legume proteins in a number of food preparations, many of which belong to the Mediterranean dietary tradition

The antinutritive effects of some seed proteinsfrequently parallel extraordinary biologicalactivities, which deserve more investigation fortheir optimal exploitation


Metabolic fate of dietary proteinsMarcello Duranti

• Dietary proteins are the source of amino acid for the body

• Proteins are normally degraded to amino acids byproteases during the digestion processes in the gastro-intestinal tract

• Digestion of proteins can be incomplete

• Full-lenght proteins or their fragments present in the gutmay have various local and systemic effects


Examples of biologically active seed proteinsMarcello Duranti

Not applicableMany seedSmallPA2Thiamine BP

Not knownFew seedsVery smallACEInPeptides

Inhibition of endogenous

amylolytic enzymes

Many seedsSmall2S albuminAmylaseinhibitors

HemagglutinationManylegume seeds

Medium size PHALectins

Not applicableLupinFragmentVicilin

Not applicableLupinLarge chainConglutin gamma

Not applicableSoybeanLarge chainConglycinin αααα’subunit

Storageproteins


proteolytic enzymes

Many seedsSmall, compact

BBIProteinaseinhibitors

Adverse activitySourceType of proteinExamplesProteinfamily


Vitamin vehiculationNot applicableMany seedSmallPA2Thiamine BP

HypotensiveNot knownFew seedsSmallACEPeptides

Anti-obesity, diabetes, metabolic

syndrome


amylolytic enzymes

Many seedsSmall2S albuminAmylaseinhibitors

Immuno-modulationHemagglutinationManylegume seeds

Medium size PHALectins

LectinNot applicableLupinFragmentVicilin

HypoglycemicNot applicableLupinLarge chainConglutin gamma

HypolipidemicNot applicableSoybeanLarge chainConglycinin αααα’subunit

Storageproteins

Anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory


proteolytic enzymes

Many seedsSmall, compact

BBIProteinaseinhibitors

Beneficial activityAdverse activitySourceType of proteinExamplesProteinfamily

Examples of biologically active seed proteinsMarcello Duranti


Nutraceutical is “any food, or part of food, consideredto provide health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease”

Stephen De Felice, 1989

The original nutraceutical conceptMarcello Dunranti

“Let your food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food”

Hippocrates (460-370 B.C.)


Lentil Bowman-Birk inhibitor 3D structureMarcello Duranti


14.217.5

23.0

Zimmer, Albert, Shaw, Nature 414, 732, 2001

15.622.5

44.0

9.414.1

50.0

26.532.9

24.084.5132.3

57.0

1.01.3

33.0

World

2000: 151 million

2010: 221 million

Increase: 46%

Incidence of diabetes in 2000, 2010 and % increase

Marcello Duranti


pH

7.0 8.54.5 5.1 5.5 5.9 6.6

90

22 3225

1015

36

4146

5360

78

65

79

4350

48

70 73

83

89

93 96

103104 107106

105

112111

110 114113

9997101

115 117 121

66

76

36

31

21.5

17.5

Mr,

kDa

43

166

29

203204

205206

44

171

125

55 5852

134135

168

136

143

127

133

145

144

92

130 131 132

102

98

126

12887

118

2-D reference map of lupin seed proteomeMarcello Duranti


Influence of conglutin γγγγ on rat plasma glucose concentrations during glucose

overloading trialsMarcello Duranti

(Doses: mg.kg-1)

control+30 mg/kg+60 mg/kg+120 mg/kg+120 Type F

+50 metformin

*: P<0.05, **: P<0.01, ***: P<0.001 vs. control


From J. Furhman (http://www.drfuhrman.com/)

Effect of dietary habits on heart

deathsMarcello Duranti


Soybean 7S globulin αααα’, αααα and ββββ mature subunits

Marcello Duranti

core domain

core domain

core domain

extension region

extension region

alfa’alfa’

alfaalfa

betabeta

MW, kDa

68

63

48

a.a.

576

543

414


Effects of soybean proteins on plasma total cholesterol ( A) and triglyceride ( B) levels in rats

Doses are:mg product administered/(kg body weight x d)

Marcello Duranti

Mature t αααα’

Cloning and yeast

expression of a truncated formof alfa’ chain

Marcello Duranti


Various international scientificboards have stated that:

Marcello Duranti

A handful of beans a day can be beneficial to health, by preventing and controlling various pathological conditions, especially the so-called “civilization diseases”.


The “molecular nutraceutics” conceptMarcello Duranti

� Isolation from the wild source and/or

cloning/expression from heterologous hosts

� Molecular characterisation

� Biological activity measurements

� Elucidation of the mechanism(s)

Individual target molecule analyses, involving:


Lupin: Lupinus albus

Lentil: Lens culinaris

Nutraceutical proteins from seeds of:Marcello Duranti

Pea: Pisum sativum; Common bean: Phaseolus vulgaris; Chickpea: Cicer arietinum

Soybean: Glycine max


Concluding remarksMarcello Duranti

► Plant protein drug discovery is an innovative andextremely interesting area of research activity

► Novel outstanding achievements can seemingly be expected soon

► This new body of information is the gateway to the development of novel, safe and healthy foods which may respond the increasing consumers’ awareness of the role of dietary habits on human well-being…

► …meantime, actions aimed at supporting the increase in consumption of whole seeds should be undertaken

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