Advancement and prospects of bioinformatics analysis for studying bioactive peptides from food-derived protein: Sequence, structure, and functions

Food-derived bioactive peptides, as potential ingredients in health-promoting functional foods targeting diet-related chronic diseases, have attracted increasing attention because of their high biological activities, low toxicity, and easy of metabolism in human body. However, conventional methods for analyzing the bioactive peptides are not only expensive but also time-consuming; these drawbacks limited detailed studies and rapid development of bioactive peptides. Emerging bioinformatics approaches may overcome these problems to enable bioactive peptide research. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of research progress in the bioinformatics methods used for identifying, characterizing, elaborating bioactive mechanisms of, and producing food-derived bioactive peptides, and also to present an effective workflow. The workflow has been integrated in silico and traditional methods to predict, validate, and modify bioactive peptides.