Robust, automated and quantitative peptide mapping

Summary

The breakdown of proteins into peptides is an essential process for the production of food products as infant formula and sports nutrition. Similarly, proteins are digested in our gastro-intestinal tract before being used as nutrients by the body. To thoroughly understand both processes, it is essential to identify the products (peptides) that are formed during protein digestion and monitor their concentrations. In this PhD-thesis, we introduced a method with LC-MS to characterise these peptides. The method is fast, yields robust results and has the unique ability to determine concentrations of formed peptides. We applied the method afterwards to samples varying in complexity. For instance, we observed that extracts of eight different cultivars of yellow pea had a similar protein composition. Besides that, we studied the action of enzymes involved in the digestive tract. For instance, we investigated the effect of pH on the enzyme from the stomach.