Antibacterial Activity of Zein Hydrolysate with Pepsin

A study was carried out to produce antimicrobial peptides from zein treated with pretenses of six kinds. Among the pretenses of six kinds, zein hydrolysate treated with pepsin showed the highest antimicrobial activity. The zein hydrolysate with pepsin was fractionated with membrane filter (30,000 10,000 and 3,000 molecular weight cut-off) and antimicrobial activity was measured for each fractions. Antimicrobial activity appeared greatly in the fraction below 3,000 (molecular weight cut-off) . The fraction was re-fractionated by HPLC and substances of two peaks collected as a sample to measure antimicrobial activity. All of both peaks showed the antimicrobial activity but 1st peak exhibited a consistently higher antimicrobial activity than 2nd peak. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were between 2.5 and 3.0 mg/mL. The peptide was heat-stable since antimicrobial activity was maintained after treated with heat for 20 min at . N-terminal amino acid sequence of peptide fractionated by HPLC was leucine, glutamic acid, proline, phenylalanine, aspartic acid and argenine. These results indicated that peptide isolated from zein hydrosate with pepsin can use as a natural preservative ingredient in food industry.