High-resolution mass spectrometry-based selection of peanut peptide biomarkers considering food processing and market type variation

To protect allergic patients and guarantee correct food labeling, robust, specific and sensitive detection methodsare urgently needed. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods could overcome the limitations of current detectiontechniques. Thefirst step in the development of an MS-based method is the identification of biomarkers, whichare, in the case of food allergens, peptides. Here, we implemented a strategy to identify the most salient peptidebiomarkers in peanuts. Processed peanut matrices were prepared and analyzed using an untargeted approach viahigh-resolution MS. More than 300 identified peptides were furtherfiltered using selection criteria to strengthenthe analytical performance of a future, routine quantitative method. The resulting 16 peptides are robust to foodprocessing, specific to peanuts, and satisfy sequence-based criteria. The aspect of multiple protein isoforms isalso considered in the selection tree, an aspect that is essential for a quantitative method’s robustness but seldom,if ever, considered.