| Summary: | Dietary protein supplementation has emerged as a promising strategy in combating sarcopenia. Furthermore, searching for alternatives of animal proteins has been a hot topic. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of zein peptides on C<sub>2</sub>C<sub>12</sub> myoblasts and explore their potential molecular mechanisms. The proliferative, cell cycle, and anti-apoptotic activities of zein peptides were evaluated. Peptidomics analysis and transcriptome sequencing were employed to explore the structure-activity relationship and underlying molecular mechanisms. The results indicated that zein peptides (0.05–0.2 mg/mL) exerted a significant proliferation-promoting impact on C<sub>2</sub>C<sub>12</sub> cells, via increasing cell viability by 33.37 to 42.39%. Furthermore, zein peptides significantly increased S phase proportion and decreased the apoptosis rate from 34.08% (model group) to 28.96% in C<sub>2</sub>C<sub>12</sub> cells. In addition, zein peptides exhibited a pronounced anti-apoptotic effect on C<sub>2</sub>C<sub>12</sub> cells. Zein peptides are abundant in branch-chain amino acids, especially leucine. Transcriptomics analysis revealed that zein peptides can promote proliferation, accelerate cell cycle, and improve protein synthesis of muscle cells through mTORC1 and mTORC2 signaling pathways.
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