Abstract

Red algae are classified more than 7,000 species in the world and have great diversity among seaweeds. The number of species have been increasing by the new classification method by gene marker and genome information. Genome contains seaweed proteins information. Red algae are rich in proteins, especially Nori possesses about 40% protein in dry weight, having great concern for new protein sources. Proteins have a potential not only the source of amino acid but also bioactive peptides. We here determined the complete genome structure of mitochondria and chloroplast from Japanese dulse, which is a new bioresource in Southern Hokkaido and attempted to elucidate of the bioactivity.

Dulse　Red alga dulse lives in cold region from Iwate prefecture to Hokkaido prefecture in Japan. Dulse contains high amount of protein like Nori. Red algae have galactan (agar and carrageenan) in their cell wall, but dulse contains xylan as the cell wall.

Functional peptides　Angiotensin converting enzyme I (ACE) and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 are the enzymes, which are related to blood pressure and blood sugar. Peptides having specific structure repress rapid increases in blood pressure and blood sugar by the inhibition of enzyme activities.

in silico analysis　in silico analysis is performed by using computer not in vivo and in vitro. In this study, ACE inhibitory peptide information was obtained from database and evaluated in the chloroplast proteins in Southern Hokkaido dulse. This information is useful for exploring novel peptides and breeding of high value dulse.

Research purpose　In this study, we determined the complete mitochondria and chloroplast genome of Southern Hokkaido dulse and explored peptides related to health functions.