Helicobacter pylori is the most common cause of peptic ulcers and gastroduodenal pathologies and has been identified by the World Health Organization as a serious threat to human health. The increasing antibiotic resistance of H. pylori necessitates prevention and early intervention, as well as the discovery of novel drugs. Amaranth, chia, and quinoa are classified as pseudocereals and are known as superfoods because of their nutritional density. The effect of consuming these pseudocereals at the onset of H. pylori infection was investigated using in silico methods. 34 proteins from amaranth, chia, and quinoa were subjected to in silico pepsin digestion, and antimicrobial, antibiofilm, and cell-penetrating activities of the released peptides were analyzed. Peptides predicted to be cell-penetrating were further used for peptide-protein docking. 58 peptides were predicted to have antimicrobial activity whereas 76 were predicted to have antibiofilm activity. A total of 116 peptides were classified as cell-penetrating peptides, and those with the highest scores were used for peptide-protein docking with shikimate dehydrogenase, type II dehydroquinase, and D-alanine-D-alanine ligase of H. pylori to evaluate their enzyme inhibition potential. A peptide released from the chia seed proteins A0A1Z1EC55 and A0A1Z1EC46 with the sequence SWKYSHRRHHSNTGSL gave the highest docking energy scores for all three enzymes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work concerning the effect of ingested food on H. pylori infection. We believe our results will provide valuable data and a new point of view for the scientists interested in this topic.

HIGHLIGHTS

• H. pylori is a common infection and the leading cause of gastroduodenal pathologies.
• Gastric digestion of amaranth, chia, and quinoa proteins with pepsin revealed antimicrobial and antibiofilm peptides that may be effective against H. pylori growth.
• One particular peptide SWKYSHRRHHSNTGSL had high docking energy scores when docked to the three enzymes of H. pylori.

Cyanobacterial peptides are a group of promising natural therapeutic agents that have been extensively studied in recent years. They can be valuable pharmaceuticals or lead compounds in developing novel therapeutics for various diseases, especially cancers, infections, and neurodegenerative diseases, which are the most important challenges of medicine today.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Cyanobacteria are a valuable source of natural metabolites, including bioactive peptides.
• Cyanobacterial peptides include ribosomal synthesized and nonribosomal peptides (NRPs).
• Therapeutic applications of cyanobacterial peptides in different diseases have been reported.