Insights of the trypsin inhibitory activity and ultrasound effect of ovomucoid based on molecular docking and spectroscopic

Ovomucoid (OVM) is the most abundant trypsin inhibitor in egg white, considered as one of the anti-nutritional factors in egg processing. In this study, the molecular mechanism of the interaction between OVM and trypsin was explored. Besides, the effect of food processing methods on the activity of OVM and structural change of OVM was analyzed. The results showed that OVM mainly inhibited trypsin activity through hydrogen bonding in its first domain and it was a non-competitive inhibitor. Surprisingly, ultrasound treatment could reduce trypsin inhibitory activity of OVM to 30%. The hydrolytic resistance to digestive enzymes and the thermal stability of the OVM was also significantly reduced. The spectroscopic results indicated ultrasound treatment affected the trypsin inhibitory activity of OVM by reducing β-sheet content and increasing hydrophobicity. In conclusion, this study reveals the molecular mechanism by which OVM inhibits trypsin activity, and provides an ultrasound treatment method to effectively reduce this activity of OVM.