Identification of the Duck Egg White N-Glycoproteome and Insight into the Course of Biological Evolution

Abstract

Protein glycosylation is a ubiquitous posttranslational modification that modulates protein properties, thereby influencing bioactivities within a system. Duck egg white (DEW) proteins exhibit diverse biological properties compared with their chicken egg white (CEW) counterparts, which might be related to glycosylation. N-Glycoproteome analysis of DEW was conducted, and a total of 231 N-glycosites from 68 N-glycoproteins were identified. Gene ontology analysis was used to elucidate the biofunctions of DEW N-glycoproteins and compare them with those of CEW, which showed that the differences mostly involved molecular functions and biological processes. The biological functions of DEW N-glycoproteins were illuminated through bioinformatics analysis and comparison with CEW orthologues, which showed different allergenicities and antibacterial abilities. These divergences might be initiated by specific alterations in glycosylation, which can enhance the proteolysis resistance and protein steric hindrance. These results provide new insights for discovering the effects of N-glycosylation on biofunctions during the divergence of homologous proteins.

A puzzle piece of protein N-glycosylation in chicken egg: N-glycoproteome of chicken egg vitelline membrane

“…Furthermore, these studies revealed the heterogeneity of N-glycosylation of egg white proteins and its influence on protein properties, such as the isoelectric point and molecular weight [ 2 ], and the existence of a proteinase/inhibitor regulation system and complement/immune systems in chicken egg yolk [ 3 ]. Subsequent studies of duck and quail egg N-glycoproteomes revealed differences in N-glycosylation between species and provided insight into evolution and environmental adaptability [ [4] , [5] , [6] ]. Furthermore, a quantitative glycoproteome analysis of unhatched fertilized eggs and hatched eggs over a 12-day period indicated that N-glycoprotein variations affected the utilization of egg proteins by the chicken embryo during incubation [ 7 ].…”

Qualitative Proteome-Wide Analysis Reveals the Diverse Functions of Lysine Crotonylation in Dendrobium huoshanense

“…Another PTM, phosphorylation, was predicted in milk fat globule membrane in human colostrum and mature milk, with a key role in infant development ( Yang et al, 2020 ). Meng et al (2019) showed that N-glycoproteome proteins in duck egg white can have antibacterial effects. Altogether, many cellular BPs are known to be regulated by PTMs through their impact on signaling, gene expression, protein stability and interactions, and enzyme kinetics ( Friso and van Wijk, 2015 ).…”

The Evaluation of UPro as a New Nutrient on High-Quality Egg Production From the Perspective of Egg Properties, Intestinal Histomorphology, and Oviduct Function of Laying Hens

“…However, the mechanism underlying how dietary protein nutrition interacts with the egg quality in laying hens is still unclear. The small peptides are widely acknowledged to be implicated in the regulation of protein synthesis, secretion, and glycosylation ( 21 , 22 ), which are three important processes of albumen formation ( 21 , 23 ). It is meaningful to determine the expression of genes related to the synthesis [ OVOA, OVOB, OVALX , and OVAL , ( 24 )], secretion [ Sec13 and Sec23A , ( 25 )], and glycosylation [ POMT1 and POMT2 , ( 26 )] of protein in magnum to explore the possible mechanism of UPro regulating albumen quality.…”