The influence of high pressure on
α-lactalbumin(ALA)/β-lactoglobulin (BLG) mixtures of
various
compositions was studied at pH 8.5 (50 mM Tris) by gel-permeation
chromatography and sodium
dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) without
2-mercaptoethanol. High-molecular-weight disulfide-linked protein oligomers formed at a pressure
of 10 kbar (1000 MPa) if
the weight fraction of BLG (W
BLG
0)
in the protein mixture exceeded 0.2. The maximum yield
of
these oligomers, of the order 80−85%, was observed at
W
BLG
0 ≥ 0.4. Conversion of
both proteins in
the oligomers was roughly the same. The estimates of the
oligomerization yield obtained by gel-permeation chromatography and SDS-PAGE agreed well. SDS-PAGE
results indicated that the
formation of intermolecular disulfide bonds is necessary for the
oligomerization. Thus, the
oligomerization of pressure-denatured ALA and BLG is driven by thiol
↔ disulfide exchange in
which the free thiol group of BLG acts as an initiator.
Keywords: High pressure; α-lactalbumin; β-lactoglobulin; protein
aggregation; gel-permeation
chromatography; SDS-PAGE; intermolecular disulfide bonds; thiol ↔
disulfide exchange
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