title: Biofoams and natural protein surfactants.
abstract: Naturally occurring foam constituent and surfactant proteins with intriguing structures and functions are now being identified from a variety of biological sources. The ranaspumins from tropical frog foam nests comprise a range of proteins with a mixture of surfactant, carbohydrate binding and antimicrobial activities that together provide a stable, biocompatible, protective foam environment for developing eggs and embryos. Ranasmurfin, a blue protein from a different species of frog, displays a novel structure with a unique chromophoric crosslink. Latherin, primarily from horse sweat, but with similarities to salivary, oral and upper respiratory tract proteins, illustrates several potential roles for surfactant proteins in mammalian systems. These proteins, together with the previously discovered hydrophobins of fungi, throw new light on biomolecular processes at air-water and other interfaces. This review provides a perspective on these recent findings, focussing on structure and biophysical properties.
authors.affiliation: WestChem Department of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. alanc@chem.gla.ac.uk
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Malcolm W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Kennedy
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001688:Biological Products / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D001695:Biology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D010825:Physics; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001688:Biological Products; D011506:Proteins; D013501:Surface-Active Agents