Torreya grandis meal has a high protein content and an appropriate amino acid ratio, making it an excellent protein source for producing ACE inhibitory peptides. To promote its application in food, medicine, and other fields, an alkaline protease hydrolysate of Torreya grandis was used in this study to isolate and identify a novel angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory peptide, VNDYLNW (VW-7), using ultrafiltration, gel chromatography purification, LC-MS/MS, and in silico prediction. The results show that the IC₅₀ value of VW-7 was 205.98 µM. The Lineweaver–Burk plot showed that VW-7 had a mixed-type inhibitory effect on ACE. Meanwhile, according to the results of molecular docking, VW-7 demonstrated a strong affinity for ACE (binding energy −10 kcal/mol). VW-7 was bound to ACE through multiple binding sites. In addition, VW-7 could remain active during gastrointestinal digestion in vitro. Nitric oxide (NO) generation in human endothelial cells could rise after receiving a pretreatment with VW-7. These results indicated that Torreya grandis meal protein can be developed into products with antihypertensive function, and VW-7 has broad application prospects in the field of antihypertensive.

The camellia seed cake proteins (CP) used in this study were individually hydrolyzed with neutral protease, alkaline protease, papain, and trypsin. The results showed that the hydrolysate had the highest ACE inhibitory activity at 67.36 ± 0.80% after four hours of neutral protease hydrolysis. Val-Val-Val-Pro-Gln-Asn (VVVPQN) was then obtained through ultrafiltration, Sephadex G-25 gel chromatography separation, LC-MS/MS analysis, and in silico screening. VVVPQN had ACE inhibitory activity with an IC₅₀ value of 0.13 mg/mL (198.66 μmol/L), and it inhibited ACE in a non-competitive manner. The molecular docking indicated that VVVPQN can combine with ACE to form eight hydrogen bonds. The results of the stability study showed that VVVPQN maintained high ACE-inhibitory activity in weakly acidic and neutral environments and that heat treatment (20–80 °C) and Na⁺, Mg²⁺, as well as Fe³⁺ metal ions had little effect on the activity of VVVPQN. Moreover, it remained relatively stable after in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestion. These results revealed that VVVPQN identified in camellia seed cake has the potential to be applied in functional food or antihypertensive drugs.

Different storage conditions can influence microbial community structure and metabolic functions, affecting rice grains’ quality. However, the microbiological mechanisms by which different storage conditions affect the quality of rice grains are not yet well understood. This study monitored the quality (the content of starch, protein, etc.) and microbial community structure of rice grains stored under different storage conditions with nitrogen gas atmosphere (RA: normal temperature, horizontal ventilation, RB: normal temperature, vertical ventilation, RC: quasi-low temperature, horizontal ventilation). The results revealed that the rice grains stored under condition RB exhibited significantly lower quality compared to condition RA and RC. In addition, under this condition, the highest relative abundance of Aspergillus (16.0%) and Penicillium (0.4%) and the highest levels of aflatoxin A (3.77 ± 0.07 μg/kg) and ochratoxin B1 (3.19 ± 0.05 μg/kg) were detected, which suggested a higher risk of fungal toxin contamination. Finally, co-occurrence network analysis was performed, and the results revealed that butyl 1,2-benzenedicarboxylate was negatively correlated (p < 0.05) with Moesziomyces and Alternaria. These findings will contribute to the knowledge base of rice storage management and guide the development of effective control measures against undesirable microbial activities.