Food Bioscience最新文献

{"title":"Carbon nanomaterials for bioactive delivery: Structure–function relationships, gastrointestinal fate, safety, and evidence for food translation","authors":"Hamid Rajabi,&nbsp;Asli Can Karaca,&nbsp;Elham Assadpour,&nbsp;Mansour Ghorbanpour,&nbsp;Seid Mahdi Jafari","doi":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110337","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110337","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Bioactive compounds (BACs) used in functional foods and nutraceuticals are frequently limited by poor aqueous solubility, physicochemical instability, gastrointestinal degradation, and low oral bioavailability. Carbon nanomaterials (CNMs), including graphene-based materials, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon dots/carbon quantum dots (CDs/CQDs), and graphene quantum dots (GQDs), have been investigated as structurally distinct delivery platforms because of their extended graphitic surfaces, tunable surface chemistry, diverse architectures, and, for some carbon dots, intrinsic optical properties. This critical review examines how CNM structure, synthesis route, surface functionalization, and hybridization influence BAC association, protection, and release through π–π stacking, hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interactions, hydrophobic association, and molecular confinement. Particular emphasis is placed on distinguishing formulation metrics from physiologically relevant delivery endpoints. Loading capacity, encapsulation efficiency, release, gastrointestinal bioaccessibility, cellular uptake, epithelial transport, and systemic availability are treated as distinct experimental outcomes. Evidence is interpreted according to translational relevance: direct food-matrix and oral-exposure studies are given the greatest weight, gastrointestinal and intestinally relevant models provide intermediate evidence, and biomedical studies are retained only when they clarify specific physicochemical or cellular mechanisms. Current evidence indicates that CNM performance is strongly formulation-dependent and does not support a universal ranking of CNM classes or inherent superiority over established lipid- or polymer-based carriers. Food-oriented evidence remains substantially less developed than biomedical proof-of-concept research, particularly for sequential digestion, intestinal transport, repeated oral exposure, and formulation-specific safety. Translation toward food and nutraceutical applications will therefore require realistic food and gastrointestinal models, standardized characterization, direct benchmarking against established food-compatible carriers, long-term toxicological assessment, and formulation-specific regulatory evaluation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12409,"journal":{"name":"Food Bioscience","volume":"85 ","pages":"Article 110337"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149362687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Milpa diet and the gut microbiota: nutritional, microbial, and health implications","authors":"Luis Mojica,&nbsp;Julieta Gonzalez-Garcia,&nbsp;Ricardo García-Gamboa","doi":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110244","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110244","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Milpa diet is a traditional Mesoamerican agroecological system centered on maize, beans, and pumpkin that integrates biodiversity, nutritional complementarity, and sustainable food production. This narrative review provides an integrated overview of the nutritional and chemical characteristics of the Milpa diet and examines how its bioactive components and traditional processing practices may influence gut microbial metabolism and metabolic health. Emerging evidence indicates that Milpa-derived foods can modulate gut microbial communities, promoting saccharolytic taxa and altering fermentation-derived metabolites involved in metabolic and immune regulation. From a food chemistry perspective, the Milpa represents a structurally complex dietary matrix in which microbiota-accessible carbohydrates (e.g., arabinoxylans, resistant starch, α-galactosides, and pectic polysaccharides), phenolic compounds, and other bioactive constituents are shaped by traditional processing practices, including nixtamalization, thermal treatment, and fermentation. These processes may alter substrate accessibility and colonic microbial metabolism, although mechanisms specific to nixtamalization remain unclear. Human interventions document microbial and fermentation-related responses, whereas metabolic, barrier, and inflammatory improvements are reported mainly in animal models; <em>in vitro</em> studies provide evidence of substrate fermentation and bioactivity. However, comparative studies remain scarce, and microbial effects specific to the combined Milpa pattern have not been established. Controlled comparisons with its individual components are needed to distinguish additive responses from interaction effects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12409,"journal":{"name":"Food Bioscience","volume":"85 ","pages":"Article 110244"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149362805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"CcpA-centered carbon source regulation and metabolic reprogramming in Lactiplantibacillus plantarum: From substrate prioritization to fermentation adaptation","authors":"Yonghui Xu,&nbsp;Yuqi Wang,&nbsp;Hongbing Dong,&nbsp;Baozhen Han,&nbsp;Jiaojiao Yu,&nbsp;Daqiao Yang,&nbsp;Xiaojuan Tang,&nbsp;Yunguo Liu,&nbsp;Xiangna Lin","doi":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110328","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110328","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Lactiplantibacillus plantarum</em> inhabits diverse ecological and fermentation niches with constantly changing carbon sources. Efficient adaptation to such nutritional fluctuations relies on coordinated regulation of substrate utilisation, central carbon metabolism and cellular physiology. Catabolite control protein A (CcpA), the master transcriptional regulator of carbon catabolite repression in Gram-positive bacteria, integrates metabolic signals to orchestrate these processes. This review systematically summarizes current understanding of CcpA-mediated carbon regulation in <em>L. plantarum</em>, focusing on mechanistic connections among substrate prioritization, metabolic reprogramming, fermentation features and physiological adaptation. CcpA establishes hierarchical carbon utilisation by modulating sugar transport and catabolic machineries, whose effects are further fine-tuned by substrate-specific transporters, local regulators and strain-specific metabolic traits. Beyond substrate uptake, CcpA reshapes central carbon metabolism; altered glycolytic flux and pyruvate partitioning redistribute metabolites toward lactate, acetate and other fermentation products. Multi-omics evidence reveals that carbon shifts trigger system-wide remodelling of energy homeostasis, redox balance, membrane metabolism and biosynthesis, which further affect growth, stress tolerance, exopolysaccharide synthesis and biofilm formation. We distinguish direct CcpA-dependent transcription from secondary metabolic effects based on gene knockout, prediction of catabolite-responsive element (cre) sites, binding assays and functional validation. Several open issues remain concerning CcpA regulatory hierarchy, direct regulon boundaries and responses to mixed-substrate environments. Future research integrating precise genetics, multi-omics, flux analysis and food-relevant co-culture models will clarify causal networks and facilitate rational optimization of fermentation and targeted strain engineering.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12409,"journal":{"name":"Food Bioscience","volume":"85 ","pages":"Article 110328"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149362685","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mechanism-guided discovery and design of food-derived uric acid lowering peptides","authors":"Peiting Lv,&nbsp;Wenshuo Zhao,&nbsp;Wei Song,&nbsp;Lushun Yuan,&nbsp;Shuzhen Cheng,&nbsp;Ming Du","doi":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110270","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110270","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Food-derived peptides are being investigated as ingredients for supporting urate homeostasis, but most evidence remains preclinical and centered on xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibition. This review develops a target-to-process framework linking mechanistic evidence, sequence features, computational prioritization, enzymatic release, and ingredient standardization. Five connected axes organize the discussion: uric acid production, renal urate handling, intestinal elimination, redox-associated tissue protection, and monosodium urate-driven inflammation. These axes do not establish five validated sequence rules, and anti-inflammatory activity is not equivalent to urate lowering. Sequence-level support is strongest for XO inhibition; transporter-, gut-, redox-, and immune-associated physicochemical features are treated as testable design priors. Computational studies are compared according to their prediction tasks, label provenance, and experimental validation rather than a single accuracy measure. Candidate evaluation must also distinguish intact peptides from predicted or experimentally detected transformation products and match exposure requirements to local intestinal or systemic mechanisms. For production, protease-release feasibility, marker-peptide quantification, and hierarchical analytical fingerprints offer a proposed route beyond degree-of-hydrolysis endpoints. Integration into closed-loop urate-peptide manufacturing remains a development objective rather than an established capability. Progress toward reproducible functional ingredients requires mechanism-matched validation, batch consistency, safety assessment, and controlled human studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12409,"journal":{"name":"Food Bioscience","volume":"85 ","pages":"Article 110270"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149362807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Aromatic turmerone: A natural sesquiterpene for biological and pharmacological purposes","authors":"Ali Jahanban-Esfahlan,&nbsp;Solmaz Asnaashari","doi":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110208","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110208","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Due to its distinctive fragrance and broad range of biological and pharmacological activities, aromatic turmerone (ar-Tur), a bioactive sesquiterpene primarily derived from the essential oil (EO) of <em>Curcuma longa</em> L. (<em>C. longa</em> L., turmeric), is attracting considerable attention. This review delves into the diverse properties and potential therapeutic applications of ar-Tur, highlighting its health-promoting effects such as anti-cancer, neuroprotective, immunomodulatory, and anti-inflammatory activities, as well as its biological effects, including antifungal and anti-venom properties.</div><div>This study provides a narrative synthesis of peer-reviewed literature published up to July 2026, drawing on searches conducted in PubMed and Scopus using keywords such as “aromatic turmerone” in combination with “pharmacology,” “biology,” and specific disease models. <em>In vitro</em> studies, <em>in vivo</em> animal models, and relevant human clinical trials were selectively examined to explore proposed mechanisms of action and therapeutic outcomes. Based on the available evidence, ar-Tur appears to possess promising bioactive properties that may support future therapeutic strategies for a range of diseases. However, the results also highlight the need for more <em>in vivo</em> and clinical research to validate this natural compound's medicinal potential. Such research is crucial for integrating ar-Tur into modern medicinal practices effectively. Ar-Tur demonstrates substantial multi-target biological and pharmacological potential. To translate these findings into clinical practice, future research should focus on developing novel drug delivery systems (e.g., nanoparticles or phytosomes) to overcome bioavailability hurdles. Well-designed human trials are also necessary to establish standardized dosing and long-term safety.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12409,"journal":{"name":"Food Bioscience","volume":"85 ","pages":"Article 110208"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149362766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Postharvest preservation technologies for citrus fruits based on natural ingredients: Pathogenic mechanisms of pathogens, antimicrobial activity, and preservation methods","authors":"Mengzhen Chen,&nbsp;Jia Zeng,&nbsp;Jindan Xiao,&nbsp;Lei Teng,&nbsp;Jinyu Wang,&nbsp;Huiting Xi,&nbsp;Yousheng Huang,&nbsp;Jianhua Xie,&nbsp;Huanhuan Dong,&nbsp;Liuming Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110311","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110311","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Citrus fruits are susceptible to infection by pathogens during postharvest storage and transport, leading to a decline in quality and economic losses. Although traditional chemical fungicides can effectively control these diseases, the issues of resistance, residues, and environmental pollution they cause have driven the development of green preservation technologies. In recent years, natural bioactive compounds derived from plants, animals, and microorganisms have attracted widespread attention due to their excellent antimicrobial properties and safety. This review summarizes the major postharvest pathogens affecting citrus fruits and their mechanisms of infection, with a particular focus on the antimicrobial activity and mechanisms of action of naturally occurring bioactive compounds, including plant essential oils (EOs), phenolic and flavonoid compounds, chitosan, and antagonistic microorganisms. It also highlights recent advances in natural-compound-driven preservation methods, including direct treatment, coatings, nanodelivery, smart packaging, and synergistic methods combining modified atmosphere packaging and the cold chain. Preservation technologies based on natural ingredients can enhance the stability, delivery efficiency, and antimicrobial efficacy of natural bioactive compounds, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional chemical preservatives. However, their commercial application remains constrained by factors such as stability, safety, and large-scale production. This paper provides a theoretical basis for the effective application of natural bioactive compounds in the postharvest preservation of citrus fruits, thereby promoting the green and sustainable development of the citrus industry.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12409,"journal":{"name":"Food Bioscience","volume":"85 ","pages":"Article 110311"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149362686","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Protein-polysaccharide complexes for probiotic delivery: Molecular interactions, structure regulation and delivery mechanisms","authors":"Meiyue Wang,&nbsp;Guanhao Bu,&nbsp;Jia Liu,&nbsp;Xinrui Liu,&nbsp;Yangjing Li,&nbsp;Muhammad Tayyab Rashid","doi":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110261","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110261","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Probiotics are essential for improving host health, yet maintaining their viability under harsh conditions during processing, storage, and gastrointestinal transit remains a significant challenge. Protein-polysaccharide complexes, owing to their excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, can be assembled into various delivery systems through non-covalent interactions or covalent conjugation, providing multi-level protection for probiotics and enabling colon-targeted delivery. This narrative review summarizes recent advances in protein-polysaccharide-based probiotic delivery systems, with particular emphasis on their assembly mechanisms, formulation factors, and applications in probiotic protection and delivery. Furthermore, the review discusses the protection, responsive release, and intestinal adhesion/colonization mechanisms of these delivery systems in the gastrointestinal tract, and summarizes their successful applications in functional foods, oral formulations, and food preservation. Finally, challenges in industrial production and practical applications are addressed. Although rationally designed protein-polysaccharide systems show considerable potential from <em>in vivo</em> studies and clinical trials remains limited.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12409,"journal":{"name":"Food Bioscience","volume":"85 ","pages":"Article 110261"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149362804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Innovative strategies in microbiota-targeted weight management: A review","authors":"Xinlei Liu,&nbsp;Luodi Fan,&nbsp;Jie Pan,&nbsp;Mengmeng Dang,&nbsp;Yuru Shao,&nbsp;Yuan Song,&nbsp;Quan Guo,&nbsp;Zeng Zhang,&nbsp;Silu Zhang,&nbsp;Zhihong Sun,&nbsp;Shi Huang,&nbsp;Shuaiming Jiang,&nbsp;Jiachao Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110307","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110307","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The global prevalence of obesity is increasing rapidly. Obesity is a complex, multifactorial disease rather than simply a condition of excess body weight. The gut microbiota plays an important role in body-weight regulation. However, conventional approaches to treat obesity such as diet and exercise do not specifically target the microbiota-mediated mechanisms involved in weight control. In addition, conventional weight-management approaches may have economic and health-related limitations, increasing interest in microbiota-targeted interventions for obesity management. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the effects of microbial interventions on obesity. The gut microbiota regulates host nutrient absorption, energy metabolism, and inflammatory responses. Modulation of the gut microbial composition and metabolite production may influence obesity through multiple mechanisms, including by regulating energy metabolism, modulating appetite and satiety, and inhibiting adipogenesis. The principal microbial intervention strategies include the use of probiotics, the use of prebiotics, the use of postbiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). Current evidence suggests that specific probiotic strains may improve obesity-related outcomes by modulating the gut microbiota composition, increasing short-chain fatty acid production, and reducing oxidative stress and systemic inflammation. Furthermore, prebiotics and postbiotics exert beneficial effects on weight management and metabolic health by promoting the growth of beneficial microbes, improving gut barrier integrity, and activating lipid metabolism-related gene expression. FMT may ameliorate obesity-related metabolic dysfunction by restoring gut microbial balance and modulating host metabolism. In summary, microbiota-targeted interventions offer a complementary approach to obesity management and may improve selected metabolic outcomes, although their effects on body weight remain variable.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12409,"journal":{"name":"Food Bioscience","volume":"85 ","pages":"Article 110307"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149362806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Polyvinyl alcohol–carbon dot composite films for food packaging and preservation: Fundamentals, functional properties, applications, and future perspectives","authors":"C.S. Fathima,&nbsp;Sobhi Daniel","doi":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110310","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110310","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The growing demand for sustainable and functional food-packaging materials has stimulated interest in biodegradable and multifunctional polymer-based packaging systems. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is an attractive film-forming polymer because of its transparency, flexibility, mechanical properties, and biodegradability; however, its high hydrophilicity, moisture sensitivity, limited UV protection, and lack of intrinsic antimicrobial activity restrict its broader application. Carbon dots (CDs) have emerged as versatile nanofillers with tunable surface chemistry, photoluminescence, antioxidant and antimicrobial functionalities, and potential for intelligent packaging applications. This review provides a critical overview of PVA/CDs composite films for food packaging and preservation, covering CD fundamentals, PVA–CD interactions, fabrication strategies, structure–property relationships, functional properties, polymer-blended systems, and food-packaging applications. Particular attention is given to mechanical, barrier, optical, ultraviolet (UV)-shielding, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and sensing functionalities, together with their applications in food preservation and freshness monitoring. The review also examines food-safety considerations, including migration and release behaviour, toxicological limitations, analytical challenges in CD detection, and regulatory aspects. The reported performance of PVA/CDs films is highly dependent on CD characteristics, loading, dispersion, polymer composition, and processing conditions, and improvements in one property may be accompanied by trade-offs in others. Although these materials show considerable potential for multifunctional packaging, challenges remain in CD synthesis reproducibility, moisture resistance, long-term stability, migration assessment, food-contact safety, environmental evaluation, and scalable manufacturing. Future research should therefore emphasize standardized materials and testing protocols, realistic food validation, comprehensive safety and life-cycle assessments, and scalable processing to support the transition of PVA/CDs systems from laboratory studies toward practical food-packaging applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12409,"journal":{"name":"Food Bioscience","volume":"85 ","pages":"Article 110310"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149362684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Research progress on milk-derived osteopontin: Structural characteristics, gastrointestinal digestion, and multifunctional nutritional potentials","authors":"Yangze Guo,&nbsp;Jiali Chen,&nbsp;Qing Hong,&nbsp;Haibo Mu,&nbsp;Zeyu Du,&nbsp;Lin Cong,&nbsp;Xiqing Yue,&nbsp;Zhenmin Liu,&nbsp;Mohan Li","doi":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110281","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fbio.2026.110281","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Osteopontin (OPN) is a highly phosphorylated, glycosylated, and multi-functional acidic secreted glycoprotein found across all vertebrate species. Expressed dynamically in diverse tissues and physiological fluids, OPN reaches its highest physiological concentration in mammalian milk, synthesized and released predominantly by mammary gland epithelial cells. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of recent academic progress concerning milk-derived OPN, integrating its structural features, comparative interspecies distribution, gastrointestinal digestion behavior, and extensive nutritional functionalities. Biochemically, mature human milk OPN consists of 298 amino acid residues, whereas bovine milk OPN encompasses 262 residues, characterized by a highly acidic isoelectric point and key functional domains including the Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) and cryptic SVVYGLR motifs. Despite being an intrinsically disordered protein lacking a rigid tertiary fold, milk OPN resists harsh gastric proteolysis due to the steric shielding provided by its unique O-linked glycan clusters. Upon passing into the intestinal tract, intact OPN and its bio-reactive fragments interact with cell-surface integrins and CD44 receptors, modulating mucosal immunity, enhancing small intestine micro-villus architecture, shaping the gut microbiome, and crossing the blood-brain barrier to accelerate oligodendrocyte myelination and cognitive maturation. This paper summarizes current clinical trial insights, safety evaluations of commercial bovine OPN in infant formula, and outlines future production paradigms driven by synthetic biology and precision fermentation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12409,"journal":{"name":"Food Bioscience","volume":"85 ","pages":"Article 110281"},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149362767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}