I have investigated the possibility that specific conalbumin (ovotransferrin) iron saturation levels enable less virulent strains of Salmonella to become more virulent. Iron starved cells of two pathogenic Salmonella strains, S. paratyphi B var. java and S. thompson, were cultured in iron limited media at 3 different iron conalbumin saturation levels. Results indicate that strains differ significantly at both low and high iron saturation conalbumin. These differences depict a growth advantage for S. paratyphi B which correlates with reports by the Centers for Disease Control that S. paratyphi B was 3 times more frequent in blood isolates than S. thompson. The ability to use protein bound iron may account for the higher involvement of S. paratyphi B in bacteremia.

The master's thesis is focused on study of specific protective proteins from animal products. Two different types of antimicrobial egg white proteins were studied in detail - antimicrobial protein ovotransferrin (conalbumin) and enzyme lysozyme. Ovotransferrin belongs to transferrin group of proteins and exhibits activities similar to milk protective protein lactoferrin. The main effects of ovotransferrin are antiviral, anticancer and immunomodulatory. Antimicrobial activity of ovotransferrin based on the possibility to bind iron is still a subject of interest. For comparison the second egg protein lysozyme (N-acetyl muramidglycan hydrolase) was used. Lysozyme is a hydrolytic enzyme which primary attack cell wall of bacteria. In the theoretical part of the thesis an overview of the specific antimicrobial proteins in selected animal products was introduced mainly focused on ovotransferrin and lysozyme. The experimental part of this work was focused on optimization of methods for the determination of antimicrobial activity, protein concentration and purity. For quantitative analysis of total proteins, optimized Hartree – Lowry spectrophotometric method was used. For the determination of molecular weight and purity SDS-PAGE was used and stained by Coomassie Brilliant Blue G250 and silver. In experimental part the real sample of egg white was compared with samples of lyophilized antimicrobial proteins and therapeutical pills supplied by industrial partner. Protein composition and purity of these preparative has been determined. Antimicrobial activity of ovotransferrin was studied on cultures of G+ bacterium Bacillus subtilis and for comparison on G– E. coli. Ovotransferrin showed antimicrobial effect only at very high concentrations of about 75 mg/ml (Bacillus subtilis) and 50 mg/ml (E coli) even with addition of high amount (100 mM) of hydrogen carbonate ions. The inhibitory effect was most evident in liquid media. On the other hand, lysozyme exhibited significant inhibitory activity from 0.3 mg/ml on gram positive bacteria. Inhibitory effect on E. coli was not observed. Another part of study was focused on isolation of ovotransferrin from egg white using gel permeation chromatography on Sephadex G100. As mobile phases 0.1 M phosphate buffer and 0.05 M Tris-HCl buffer were tested. By SDS-PAGE the purity of ovotransferin comparing to standard was evaluated. Finally, the encapsulation of ovotransferrin and lysozyme was tested. Ovotransferrin and lysozyme was encapsulated into liposome and chitosan particles. Particles stability, distribution and average size distribution were studied by dynamic light scattering and zeta potential measurement. The stability of particles in the model physiological conditions was studied too.