Competitive adsorption of water soluble plasma proteins from egg yolk at the oil/water interface.
Water soluble plasma proteins were fractionated from hen's egg yolk, and the molecular weight and pI of the most abundant protein species were characterized with gel electrophoresis. The proteins were identified by mass spectrometry. The protein fraction was used to produce oil-in-water emulsions, both at various protein concentrations and at various pH values, and the surface load was determined through serum depletion. The competitive adsorption was studied through the determination of nonadsorbing species with gel electrophoresis. The results show that it was possible to form an oil-in-water emulsion for which droplet size and maximum surface load depended on the protein concentration and pH. Serum albumin and YGP40 adsorbed selectively at the oil/water interface throughout the pH range investigated, and for albumin the selectivity increased close to its pI. It is suggested that this selective adsorption is due to long hydrophobic stretches in the polypeptide chain, which are present in the selectively adsorbing species but absent in less adsorbing species.
Nilsson
Lars
L
Division of Food Technology, Centre for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden. lars.nilsson@food.lth.se
Osmark
Peter
P
Fernandez
Céline
C
Andersson
Marcus
M
Bergenståhl
Björn
B
D000327:Adsorption; D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D004527:Egg Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D004530:Egg Yolk / Q000737:chemistry*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004655:Emulsions / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D009821:Oils; D012995:Solubility; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014867:Water
D004527:Egg Proteins; D004655:Emulsions; D009821:Oils; D014867:Water; C039690:livetin