Antifungal Peptides From Casein Milk of Etawa Crossbreed (Capra hircus) as Biopreservation Agent for Bread and Molecular Docking Studies

Bread without peptide fraction treatment started to grow mold on the fourth day with a total of 24 x 107 fungi colonies/ml. Meanwhile, the addition of peptide fractions GMC5, GMC6, GMC7, and GMC8 effectively preserved bread for up to 4 days, indicated by no mold growth. The best treatment was the GMC6 peptide fraction on day 8 which grew the least amount of fungus at 7 x 107 spores/ml. Peptide interaction with the CaATPase receptor Aspergillus sp. was carried out using HADDOCK 2.4. The 3D CaATPase structure prediction resulted in a model with good structural quality. This was supported by residues in favored regions at 99.53 , a 3D-1D average score ≥0.2 with a percentage of 81.05 , and a Molprobity score of 1.10. The four peptides exhibited great potential in inhibiting CaATPase through molecular binding with consecutive affinity energies of -6.7, -8.2, -7.7, and -5.6 kcal/mol for YNVPQLEIVPK, KENINELSK, GLSPEVPNENLLR, and YLGYLEQLLK, respectively. These peptides have the potential as bread preservatives. © 2025 University of Kerbala.