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Food Proteins and Peptides: Processing, Functionality, and Bioavailability
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Food Proteins and Peptides: Processing, Functionality, and Bioavailability

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Physics and (Bio)Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 July 2026 | Viewed by 670

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Song Gao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Interests: food chemistry; collagen; protein gel; functional food; aquatic product; protein oxidation; LC-MS/MS
Prof. Dr. Qingfeng Ge

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Interests: animal-source food; food processing; fermented meat product; food microbiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue, ‘Food Proteins and Peptides: Processing, Functionality, and Bioavailability’, will focus on the multifaceted roles and mechanisms of proteins within contemporary food systems. It will explore how proteins underpin both nutritional value and key functional attributes—such as water-holding capacity, emulsification, foaming, and gelation—while detailing the molecular interactions (e.g., cross-linking, aggregation, and controlled degradation) that occur during processing. Particular attention will be given to how thermal, mechanical, enzymatic, and emerging nonthermal technologies, as well as storage conditions, modify protein conformation and supramolecular structure, thereby tailoring functionality and product quality.

This Special Issue will also address digestibility and bioavailability, investigating how structural alterations influence proteolysis by human digestive enzymes, amino acid release, peptide absorption, and downstream bioactive effects. Integrating insights from chemistry, materials science, and nutrition, this Special Issue will highlight strategies to optimize protein utilization in diverse product matrices, including plant and alternative protein formulations. Ultimately, this Special Issue aims to guide the design of sustainable, health-promoting foods by aligning process conditions with targeted physicochemical properties and physiological outcomes, thereby supporting innovation across the food supply chain.

Dr. Song Gao
Prof. Dr. Qingfeng Ge
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • muscle foods
  • protein functionality
  • protein digestion
  • peptides
  • bioavailability

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

25 pages, 9782 KB  
Article
Small Molecular Peptides and Their Potential Antifungal Activities During the Pile-Fermentation of Post-Fermented Tea
by Xueli Pan, Mengyi Guo, Song Wu, Huan Huang, Yan Luo, Zhenjun Zhao, Xun Chen, Xianchun Hu, Huawei Wu and Xinghui Li
Foods 2026, 15(7), 1263; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15071263 - 7 Apr 2026
Viewed by 452
Abstract
This study systematically investigated the dynamic diversity, potential sources, and antifungal activities of small molecular peptides during the pile-fermentation process of post-fermented tea. By analyzing the damaging effects of small molecular peptide extracts from tea samples at different pile-fermentation stages on the spore [...] Read more.
This study systematically investigated the dynamic diversity, potential sources, and antifungal activities of small molecular peptides during the pile-fermentation process of post-fermented tea. By analyzing the damaging effects of small molecular peptide extracts from tea samples at different pile-fermentation stages on the spore cell membranes of Aspergillus carbonarius (A. carbonarius) and the inhibitory activity against β-1,3-glucan synthase (β-1,3-GS), it was confirmed that some small molecular peptides exhibit significant antifungal effects. The main findings are as follows: (1) The number of identified small molecular peptides showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing with the progress of pile-fermentation, peaking at 4453 species on the 35th day of pile-fermentation, and were dominated by hexapeptides and heptapeptides with molecular weights ranging from 600 to 800 Da. (2) Based on orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), the samples were divided into three characteristic stages according to the differences in small molecular peptide composition at different stages, and 156 characteristic peptides with a relative abundance higher than 0.1% were screened out. Their precursor proteins were derived from 148 proteins belonging to 16 genera, including Camellia, Aspergillus, Saccharomyces, Penicillium, and Bacillus. (3) BLAST alignment results showed that five out of the 156 characteristic peptides were degradation fragments of known antifungal peptides originating from Aspergillus and Bacillus. (4) Combining molecular docking screening and in vitro verification of synthetic peptides, a total of 27 small molecular peptides with antifungal activity were obtained, and their mechanism of action was the inhibition of β-1,3-GS activity. (5) The small molecular peptides related to antifungal activity could be classified into two categories: enzymatic hydrolysates of known antifungal peptides, and the enzymatic hydrolysates of tea-derived proteins or macromolecular peptides. Both categories were mainly distributed in the three stages of pile-fermentation, and there was a significant positive correlation among the population size of dominant microorganisms, microbial peptidase activity, and the abundance of small molecular peptides. This study reveals the dynamic generation pattern and antifungal potential of small molecular peptides during the pile-fermentation of post-fermented tea, providing a new scientific basis for evaluating the dynamic changes in microbial communities in tea and effectively controlling the contamination of harmful fungi during the pile-fermentation process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Proteins and Peptides: Processing, Functionality, and Bioavailability)
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