-Lactoglobulins, belonging to the lipocalin family, are a widely studied group of proteins, characterized by the ability to solubilize and transport hydrophobic ligands, especially fatty acids. Despite many reports, the mechanism of ligand binding and the functional role of these proteins is still unclear, and many contradicting concepts are often encountered in the literature. In the present paper the comparative analysis of the binding properties of -lactoglobulins has been performed using sequence-derived information, structure-based electrostatic calculations, docking simulations, and NMR experiments. Our results reveal for the first time the mechanism of -lactoglobulin ligand binding, which is completely determined by the opening-closing of EF loop, triggered by Glu 89 protonation. The alkaline shift observed for Glu 89 pK a in porcine -lactoglobulin (pK a 9.7) with respect to the bovine species (pK a 5.5) depends upon the interplay of electrostatic effects of few nearby key residues. Porcine protein is therefore able to bind fatty acids provided that the appropriate pH solution conditions are met (pH > 8.6), where the EF loop conformational change can take place. The unusually high pH of binding detected for porcine -lactoglobulin seems to be functional to lipases activity. Theoretical pK a calculations extended to representative -lactoglobulins allowed the identification of key residues involved in structurally and functionally important electrostatic interactions. The results presented here provide a strong indication that the described conformational change is a common feature of all -lactoglobulins.The physicochemical and biological characteristics of -lactoglobulins, which belong to the lipocalin family, have been extensively studied in the last 30 years, but despite the wealth of data, the biological function of these extracellular proteins is still undefined (Ref. 1 and references therein). -Lactoglobulins isolated from cow, goat, and sheep milk samples, under nondenaturing conditions, showed endogenously bound fatty acids (2). Many authors have suggested that bovine -lactoglobulin (BLG) 1 has a transport and/or protective role toward bound ligands in the stomach (3). However, we have previously shown (4) that BLG, despite its high stability at acidic pH, is unable to bind fatty acids at low pH, thus indicating that it could not be employed "as is" as a transporter through the human gastric tract.Retinoids and fatty acids have been reported to bind to BLG in vitro in the pH range of 6.5-8.5, with dissociation constants on the order of 65 nM and 0.6 M, respectively (5). Specifically, titration experiments of BLG with palmitic acid (PA) (4) have clearly shown that: (i) at neutral pH the primary site for palmitic acid binding is within the protein calyx; (ii) the amount of bound PA is drastically reduced upon decreasing pH and the ligand is completely released at pH 2; (iii) in the pH range 7.3-6.4, a conformational equilibrium was observed for the bound ligand reflecting the dynamics of EF l...