In silico identification of novel small molecule umami peptide from ovotransferrin

Summary Umami ingredients are the important components of seasoning in food and widely used in food production. However, few novel umami peptides were isolated and identified. Here, the purpose of this research is to identify small molecule umami peptides derived from ovotransferrin by molecular docking. Based on the virtual enzymatic hydrolysis and molecular docking analysis, the tripeptide DEK with the lowest CDOCKER‐ENERGY (−99.50 kcal mol −1 ) was identified, which could occupy the extracellular venus flytrap domain (VFTD) of T1R1/T1R3 (taste receptor type 1, member 1 and 3). Furthermore, the electronic tongue was used to measure the umami taste of DEK. The results showed that the umami value of DEK was 2.31, which was higher than that of monosodium L‐glutamate via electronic tongue analysis. The docking results showed that virtual screening and molecular docking may be a more reliable and rapid method to substitute for classical methods for screening and identification of small molecule umami peptides.