Peptidomics and Computational Docking Prioritize Candidate Peptide-Protein Associations Relevant to Upper-Gastrointestinal Biology in a Fermented Soy-Derived Postbiotic

Background/Objectives: Gastro-AD® (GAD) is a fermented soy-derived postbiotic supported by clinical and preclinical evidence related to gastric comfort and mucosal injury. Although fermentation-derived metabolites have been characterized, the peptide fraction remains poorly defined. This study characterized GAD peptides and explored their potential biological contexts.

Methods

Untargeted peptidomics was used to identify soy-derived peptides in GAD and map them to source proteins. A diversity-sampling panel of ten peptides was selected using sequence, physicochemical, and predicted structural features. These peptides were screened against a human protein-structure library by computational docking, followed by GO enrichment and context-based prioritization of candidate interactors.