Identification of β-aspartic semialdehyde and homocysteine as major reaction products of riboflavin-sensitized photooxidation of peptide-bound methionine

Methionine is an essential amino acid for mammals and it is limiting for monogastric animals. It can be oxidized easily by UV light. This could influence the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of methionine. In this work, the photosensitized degradation of peptide-bound methionine in the presence of riboflavin was investigated in a model system. Capillary electrophoresis was employed to analyze the time course of the degradation. The products were identified by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Benzoyl methionine was degraded by 50% during UV irradiation in the presence of riboflavin after 5.0 min with 10 mol% riboflavin and 6.4 min with 3 mol% riboflavin. Homocysteine (16–20 mol%) and β-aspartic semialdehyde (ca. 30 mol%) were found as major degradation products next to methionine sulfoxide (ca. 25 mol%). A smaller molar ratio of riboflavin led to a higher formation of aspartic semialdehyde. The formation of homocysteine was paralleled by the formation of formaldehyde. Furthermore, the experiment was transferred to small peptides, which showed the analogous degradation products of peptide-bound methionine.