New Peptides from Black Bone Chicken Enhance Umami Taste Sensation

Umami taste, often described as savory, is a fundamental flavor profile crucial for food palatability. Naturally occurring peptides are known to contribute significantly to this taste, with various sources like meat and fermented products yielding such compounds. From Yanjin black bone chicken meat, five novel polypeptides were isolated for their potential umami properties. However, the specific flavor characteristics and underlying umami mechanism of these peptides remained unclarified, representing a key knowledge gap this study aimed to address.

The investigation revealed that among the five isolated peptides, HE-10 and TP-7 consistently exhibited the strongest umami flavors during sensory evaluation. Dose-response experiments provided crucial mechanistic insight, demonstrating that these umami peptides enhance taste by generating peptide mineral chelates, a finding further supported by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) microstructural analyses. The most significant finding was that HE-10 and TP-7 were identified as the primary contributors to the intense umami flavor, enhancing taste via a novel peptide-mineral chelation mechanism. Molecular docking studies precisely mapped the binding of all five polypeptides to the T1R1/T1R3 receptor, specifically interacting with four critical amino acid residues: Glu217, Glu148, Asp216, and His145. These interactions were mediated through a combination of van der Waals forces, electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophobic interactions, highlighting the complex molecular basis of their umami activity.