This study describes the purification and characterization of a novel antihypertensive angiotensin 1converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptide from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Maximal production of the ACE inhibitor from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was obtained from 24 h of cultivation at $30^{circ}C$ and its ACE inhibitory activity was increased by about 1.5 times after treatment of the cell-free extract with pepsin. After the purification of ACE inhibitory peptides with ultrafiltration, Sephadex G-25 column chromatography, and reverse-phase HPLC, an active fraction with an $IC_{50}$ of 0.07 mg and $3.5\%$ yield was obtained. The purified peptide was a novel decapeptide, showing very low similarity to other ACE inhibitory peptide sequences, and its amino acid sequence was Tyr-Asp-Gly-Gly-Val-Phe-Arg-Val-Tyr-Thr. The purified inhibitor competitively inhibited ACE and also showed a clear antihypertensive effect in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) at a dosage of 1 mg/kg body weight.
