OBJECTIVES: Proteins are the major component and play a key role in nutritious and therapeutic functions of edible bird’s nest (EBN); however, limited studies have been conducted on the protein due to difficulties in extraction, isolation as well as identification. This study aimed to provide comprehensive information for the quality evaluation of EBN peptides, which would be a valuable reference for further study on EBN proteins.

METHODS: Here, we developed a quality control method using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) peptide fingerprints deriving from EBN being digested with simulated gastric fluid. The characteristic peptide peaks were collected and identified by LC-MS/MS.

RESULTS: The characteristic peptide peaks, corresponding to the protein fragments of acidic mammalian chitinase-like, lysyl oxidase, and Mucin-5AC-like, were identified and quantified. Interestingly, the principal component analysis indicated that the fingerprints were able to discriminate colour of EBN (white/red) and production sites (cave/house) of White EBN on the same weight basis. As proposed by the model developed in this study, Muc-5AC-like and AMCaselike proteins were the markers with the highest discriminative power.

CONCLUSIONS: The overall findings suggest that HPLC peptide fingerprints were able to clearly demonstrate peptide profile differences between genuine and adulterated EBN samples; and classify EBN samples by its color and production site. In addition, the protein identification results suggested that Muc-5AC-like protein was the major protein in EBN.