Master's Thesis Defense of Riatries Saavedra

ABSTRACT

Bioactive peptides derived from natural sources have emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for managing cardiovascular diseases. Phaseolus lunatus seeds are known to be a rich source of bioactive peptides, but their therapeutic potential remains largely unexplored. Simulated gastrointestinal digestion of Phaseolus lunatus seed proteins was performed and the resulting peptides were screened for probable protein targets. Forty-five peptides exhibited high gastrointestinal absorption with bioavailability of 0.55. These peptides were analyzed for their putative protein targets and the pathways to which these protein targets belonged were examined. The results revealed enrichment of targets in the renin-angiotensin system, and the lipid and atherosclerosis pathway. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) was found to be the most targeted protein by the bioactive peptides. To assess the potential of these peptides relative to a positive control, experiments were carried out involving the docking of five protein targets, namely angiotensin II type 1 receptor, calcium/calmodulin dependent protein kinase 2 delta, caspase-1, renin, and ACE. Findings indicate peptide Val-Trp had the highest affinity for the ACE receptor protein. Generally, peptides with aromatic side chains interact more strongly with the target protein. This study provides valuable insights into the therapeutic potential of bioactive peptides from Phaseolus lunatus seeds for managing cardiovascular diseases.