Research Progress on Microbial Fermentation Preparation and Biological Activity of Plant-derived Bioactive Peptides

Plant-derived bioactive peptides (PBPs) are highly valued in food and biomedicine for their diverse bioactivities and potential dual-use value in medicine and food. In recent years, microbial fermentation, via enzymatic synergy, can target and release high-activity peptide segments. Lactic acid bacteria, with their specific enzyme systems, are efficient for PBPs preparation. Yeast autolysis enhances PBPs yield, while molds, secreting various hydrolytic enzymes, improve PBPs hydrolysis. Bacillus-derived alkaline proteases are great for specifically hydrolyzing cereal proteins. This paper reviews the application of these microorganisms in PBPs fermentation, exploring the effects of different strains on PBPs yield and function. It also explains PBP separation methods and recent advances in their functional activities like antioxidant, antihypertensive, hypoglycemic, and immune-modulating effects. Moreover, it proposes that future PBPs research should focus on clarifying microbial fermentation mechanisms, verifying functional activities, and promoting industrialization to address challenges such as unclear key regulation mechanisms in microbial fermentation, and lack of theoretical basis for human efficacy and safety verification, aiming to offer theoretical references for PBPs industrialization.