Bovine a-lactalbumin

Chemical reactions Polymerization of casein and whey proteins are due to some kind of chemical reactions. The different proteins as found in the supernatant of milk after precipitation at pH 4.6 are collectively called whey proteins. These globular proteins are more water soluble than caseins and are subject to heat dena-turation. Denaturation increases their water-binding capacity. The principal fractions are P-lactoglobulin, a-lactalbumin, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and immunoglobulins (Ig). 

About 20% of milk protein is soluble in the aqueous phase of milk. These serum proteins are primarily a mixture of /3-lactoglobulin, a-lactalbumin, bovine serum albumin, and immunoglobulins. Each of these globular proteins has a unique set of characteristics as a result of its amino acid sequence (Swaisgood 1982). As a group, they are more heat sensitive and less calcium sensitive than caseins (Kinsella 1984). Some of these characteristics (Table 11.1) cause large differences in susceptibility to denaturation (de Wit and Klarenbeek 1984). 

WJ Browne, ACT North, DC Phillips, K Brew, TC Vanaman, RC Hill. A possible three-dimensional stnicture of bovine a-lactalbumin based on that of hen s egg-white lysozyme. J Mol Biol 42 65-86, 1969. 

The details of many all-atom unfolding simulation studies have been summarized in several reviews [17,46,47]. These studies include unfolding simulations of a-lactalbumin, lysozyme, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), barnase, apomyoglobin, [3-lacta-mase, and more. The advantage of these simulations is that they provide much more detailed information than is available from experiment. However, it should be stressed that there is still only limited evidence that the pathways and intermediates observed in the nanosecond unfolding simulations correlate with the intermediates observed in the actual experiments. 

Weinbrenner, W. F. and Etzel, M. R., Competitive adsorption of a-lactalbumin and bovine serum albumin to a sulfopropyl ion-exchange membrane, J. Chromatogr. A, 662, 414, 1994. 

Bovine a -lactalbumin (BLA) is a protein whose structure appears to be unusually malleable and, as such, has been the focus of many studies of what is termed the molten globule transition. At low pH, BLA expands and is said to lose tertiary structure, but it maintains substantial secondary structure in a partial unfolding transition (molten globule... 

Fig. 37. Difference CD spectrum (native-molten globule) in bovine a-lactalbumin ( ). Derivedfrom data of Kuwajima et al (1985) for native (—) and molten globule ( ) forms. 

O Keefe, E.T., Mordick, T., and Bell, J.E. (1980) Bovine galactosyltransferase Interaction with a-lactalbu-min and the role of a-lactalbumin in lactose synthase. Biochemistry 19, 4962-4966. 

LSZ lysozyme RNase ribonuclease aLA a -lactalbumin aLA(-Ca2+) Ca2+ depleted aLA BSA bovine serum albumin. 

Fig. 6. Plateau-values, I"P1 /mg m 2, of adsorption isotherms of lysozyme (LSZ), ribonuclease (RNase), a -lactalbumin (aLA), calcium-depleted (X -lactalbumin (aLA(-Ca )) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) on hydrophobic polystyrene (PS) and hydrophilic hematite (a — Fe203) and silica (Si02) surfaces. An indication of the charge density of the surface is given by the zeta-potential, C, and of the proteins by + and signs. Ionic strength 0.05 M T = 25°C. (Derived from Currie et al. 2003).

Fig. 6 Transition temperature of protein unfolding measured by CE and CD. Proteins lysozyme from chicken egg (LYS), a-lactalbumin from human milk (LAL-h), a-lactalbumin type III from bovine milk (LAL-III), cytochrome c from bovine heart (CYT), recombinant dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR).

Fig. 7 Mobility-shift assay for the determination of dissociation constant of the complex between anti-DNP rat monoclonal IgG21) antibody and charged ligands that contained the A-dinitrophenyl group. Mesityl oxide (MO) served as EOF marker, bovine carbonic anhydrase (CAB) and bovine a-lactalbumin (LA) as internal references. The DNP ligands with a charge of —1 (A) und —9 (B), respectively, were used as additives to the running buffer. (Reprinted with permission from Ref. 30. Copyright 1995 American Chemical Society.)...

---