Proteomics and Peptidomics As a Tool to Compare the Proteins and Endogenous Peptides in Human, Cow, and Donkey Milk

Abstract

Cow’s milk is the most widely used ingredient in infant formulas. However, its specific protein composition can cause allergic reactions. Finding alternatives to replace cow’s milk and fill the nutritional gap with human milk is essential for the health of infants. Proteomic and peptidomic techniques have supported the elucidation of milk’s nutritional ingredients. Recently, omics approaches have attracted increasing interest in the investigation of milk because of their high throughput, precision, sensitivity, and reproducibility. This review offers a significant overview of recent developments in proteomics and peptidomics used to study the differences in human, cow, and donkey milk. All three types of milks were identified to have critical biological functions in human health, particularly in infants. Donkey milk proteins were closer in composition to human milk, were less likely to cause allergic reactions, and may be developed as novel raw materials for formula milk powders.

Science and Faith to Understand Milk Bioactivity for Infants

“…In recent decades, omics technologies have been applied as ‘holistic’ add-on techniques to traditional (single-factor) milk bioactivity research in the natural sciences. Genomic analyses of milk and infant cells are used to identify the breast milk miRNA regulators that affect immune maturation [ 98 ], transcriptomics to assess the expressions of milk stem cells and host gene expressions [ 110 ], proteomics and peptidomics to characterize all milk proteins and host cell protein responses [ 111 ], epigenomics to explore the (longer-term) effects of milk on host gene expressions [ 112 ], metabolomics to assess interactions with milk or host metabolites [ 113 ], and microbiomics to assess the interactions between milk and host microbes [ 114 ]—just to mention a few examples. Such techniques, and the wealth of new data they contribute, provide a broader picture of milk components and their multiple effects on the human body.…”

Glutamine‐derived peptides: Current progress and future directions

“…Short peptides are easily lost during extraction and enrichment, whereas the resolution limitations of instruments such as MS and liquid chromatography, as well as the complexity of short peptides themselves, further increase the difficulty of identification. Especially for short peptides less than five amino acids in length, their identification features are limited, creating recognition difficulties for database search engines (Cai et al, 2022;Ning et al, 2023). To overcome these challenges, continuous improvements in sensitivity, scanning speed, and instrument stability are essential.…”