Caseins are present in milk in the form of large spherical complexes called micelles that are stabilized by kappa-casein found on the surface. This stabilizing effect is lost when milk clotting enzymes hydrolyze kappa-casein thereby initiating the coagulation process. The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of kappa-casein polymorphism upon hydrolysis by proteases. The A and B forms are the most common genetic variants of kappa-casein in Canadian Holstein dairy herds, representing three phenotypes AA, AB and BB. Whole casein from Holstein milk samples was fractionated into its four major components by ion-exchange chromatography using Express Ion Exchanger Q Anion Exchanger and Macro-Prep High Q Anion Exchange Support columns. The kappa-casein fraction was isolated, dialyzed, and assessed for its phenotype and purity by PAGE. The pure forms of the three different phenotypes of kappa-casein (AA, AB, BB) at a final concentration of 0.5% were then hydrolyzed by calf chymosin (1:500) and porcine pepsin (1:1000) at a pH of 5.8 at 37°C. Aliquots were collected at 0, 5, 15, 30, 60 and 90 min and the reaction stopped by using 24% NH4OH. The rate of hydrolysis of the three phenotypes was analyzed by comparing the disappearance of the substrate with time from the RP-HPLC chromatograms using Waters MAXIMA software. SDS-PAGE was used to calculate the approximate molecular weight of the hydrolytic products. Analysis of the hydrolysate profiles indicated that there was significant difference (P < 0.05) in the rate of hydrolysis between the phenotypes. Under the present conditions at a pH of 5.8, the AA phenotype showed a significantly slower rate of hydrolysis by both chymosin and pepsin, than the other two phenotypes. There was no significant difference in the rate of hydrolysis between the phenotypes AB and BB during chymosin hydrolysis. The BB phenotype is hydrolyzed more extensively and the AB phenotype is intermediate between the two variants in the p
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33786 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Jefferson, Julius J. |
| Contributors | Ng-Kwai-Hang, K. F. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Animal Science.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001874345, proquestno: MQ78903, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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