Development and Functional Characterization of Recombinant Mussel Adhesive Protein for Anti-Oxidative and Anti-Aging Therapeutic Applications.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are well-known as major contributors to skin aging, and the application of antioxidants to suppress ROS has been increasingly emphasized in the field of cosmetics. Traditionally, plant-derived or synthetic antioxidants have been predominantly used. More recently, antioxidant, anti-aging, and anti-inflammatory effects of mussel extracts or mussel-derived hydrolysates have also been explored and proposed for cosmetic applications. However, there is still a lack of scientific research on the antioxidant and anti-aging effects of specific mussel foot proteins, particularly engineered recombinant proteins such as NGT-M001 (hybrid fp-151). Natural mussel adhesive proteins are characterized by an amino acid composition rich in tyrosine and catechol groups such as DOPA, which are believed to possess potent antioxidant activity. In this study, we quantitatively evaluated the antioxidant and anti-aging properties of a recombinant mussel adhesive protein (rMAP) lacking DOPA modification, and a rationally designed protein, NGT-M001. Antioxidant activity was assessed using ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging assays, while anti-aging potential was evaluated through collagenase and hyaluronidase inhibition assays. In the ABTS assay, the antioxidant capacity per molar unit of NGT-M001 was 27.76-fold higher than that of Trolox. NGT-M002 (pvFP-5), NGT-M003 (pvFP-5 fragment) and NGT-M004 (FP-1 fragment) exhibited 9.08-fold, 2.84-fold, and 8.54-fold higher activities, respectively. In the DPPH assay, NGT-M001 and NGT-M004 were not detected, whereas NGT-M002 and NGT-M003 showed 3.45-fold and 1.59-fold higher activity than Trolox, respectively. These findings suggest that recombinant mussel adhesive proteins such as NGT-M001 exhibit antioxidant activity and may serve as promising next-generation bioactive ingredients for functional medicine and cosmetic applications to improve skin health and radical scavenging.