Egg white. Medical search

Egg White: The white of an egg, especially a chicken's egg, used in cooking. It contains albumin. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)Muramidase: A basic enzyme that is present in saliva, tears, egg white, and many animal fluids. It functions as an antibacterial agent. The enzyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of 1,4-beta-linkages between N-acetylmuramic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues in peptidoglycan and between N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues in chitodextrin. EC 3.2.1.17.Ovomucin: A heterogeneous mixture of glycoproteins responsible for the gel structure of egg white. It has trypsin-inhibiting activity.Egg Proteins: Proteins which are found in eggs (OVA) from any species.Egg Yolk: Cytoplasm stored in an egg that contains nutritional reserves for the developing embryo. It is rich in polysaccharides, lipids, and proteins.Egg Proteins, Dietary: Proteins found in eggs which are consumed as a food.Conalbumin: A glycoprotein albumin from hen's egg white with strong iron-binding affinity.Chickens: Common name for the species Gallus gallus, the domestic fowl, in the family Phasianidae, order GALLIFORMES. It is descended from the red jungle fowl of SOUTHEAST ASIA.Ovum: A mature haploid female germ cell extruded from the OVARY at OVULATION.Macroglobulins: Serum globulins with high molecular weight. (Dorland, 28th ed)Eggs: Animal reproductive bodies, or the contents thereof, used as food. The concept is differentiated from OVUM, the anatomic or physiologic entity.Egg Shell: A hard or leathery calciferous exterior covering of an egg.Oviducts: Ducts that serve exclusively for the passage of eggs from the ovaries to the exterior of the body. In non-mammals, they are termed oviducts. In mammals, they are highly specialized and known as FALLOPIAN TUBES.Cystatins: A homologous group of endogenous CYSTEINE PROTEINASE INHIBITORS. The cystatins inhibit most CYSTEINE ENDOPEPTIDASES such as PAPAIN, and other peptidases which have a sulfhydryl group at the active site.Biofouling: Process by which unwanted microbial, plant or animal materials or organisms accumulate on man-made surfaces.Parasite Egg Count: Determination of parasite eggs in feces.Ovalbumin: An albumin obtained from the white of eggs. It is a member of the serpin superfamily.Riboflavin: Nutritional factor found in milk, eggs, malted barley, liver, kidney, heart, and leafy vegetables. The richest natural source is yeast. It occurs in the free form only in the retina of the eye, in whey, and in urine; its principal forms in tissues and cells are as FLAVIN MONONUCLEOTIDE and FLAVIN-ADENINE DINUCLEOTIDE.Rheiformes: An order of large, long-necked, long-legged, flightless birds, found in South America. Known as rheas, they are sometimes called American ostriches, though they are in a separate order from true OSTRICHES.Geese Avidin: A specific protein in egg albumin that interacts with BIOTIN to render it unavailable to mammals, thereby producing biotin deficiency.Vegetable Proteins: Proteins which are present in or isolated from vegetables or vegetable products used as food. The concept is distinguished from PLANT PROTEINS which refers to non-dietary proteins from plants.Biotin: A water-soluble, enzyme co-factor present in minute amounts in every living cell. It occurs mainly bound to proteins or polypeptides and is abundant in liver, kidney, pancreas, yeast, and milk.Egg Hypersensitivity: Allergic reaction to eggs that is triggered by the immune system.Papain: A proteolytic enzyme obtained from Carica papaya. It is also the name used for a purified mixture of papain and CHYMOPAPAIN that is used as a topical enzymatic debriding agent. EC 3.4.22.2.Immunoglobulin E: An immunoglobulin associated with MAST CELLS. Overexpression has been associated with allergic hypersensitivity (HYPERSENSITIVITY, IMMEDIATE).Clostridium butyricum: Type species of the genus CLOSTRIDIUM, a gram-positive bacteria in the family Clostridiaceae. It is used as a source of PROBIOTICS.Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylgalactosamine: A nucleoside diphosphate sugar which serves as a source of N-acetylgalactosamine for glycoproteins, sulfatides and cerebrosides.Protein Denaturation: Disruption of the non-covalent bonds and/or disulfide bonds responsible for maintaining the three-dimensional shape and activity of the native protein.Coturnix: A genus of BIRDS in the family Phasianidae, order GALLIFORMES, containing the common European and other Old World QUAIL.Politics: Activities concerned with governmental policies, functions, etc.Polynesia: The collective name for the islands of the central Pacific Ocean, including the Austral Islands, Cook Islands, Easter Island, HAWAII; NEW ZEALAND; Phoenix Islands, PITCAIRN ISLAND; SAMOA; TONGA; Tuamotu Archipelago, Wake Island, and Wallis and Futuna Islands. Polynesians are of the Caucasoid race, but many are of mixed origin. Polynesia is from the Greek poly, many + nesos, island, with reference to the many islands in the group. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p966 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p426)Famous PersonsWashingtonFederal Government: The level of governmental organization and function at the national or country-wide level.National Health Insurance, United States Serine Endopeptidases: Any member of the group of ENDOPEPTIDASES containing at the active site a serine residue involved in catalysis.Helsinki Declaration: An international agreement of the World Medical Association which offers guidelines for conducting experiments using human subjects. It was adopted in 1962 and revised by the 18th World Medical Assembly at Helsinki, Finland in 1964. Subsequent revisions were made in 1975, 1983, 1989, and 1996. (From Encyclopedia of Bioethics, rev ed, 1995)Emergency Service, Hospital: Hospital department responsible for the administration and provision of immediate medical or surgical care to the emergency patient.Emergencies: Situations or conditions requiring immediate intervention to avoid serious adverse results.Human Rights: The rights of the individual to cultural, social, economic, and educational opportunities as provided by society, e.g., right to work, right to education, and right to social security.United Nations: An international organization whose members include most of the sovereign nations of the world with headquarters in New York City. The primary objectives of the organization are to maintain peace and security and to achieve international cooperation in solving international economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian problems.Parenteral Nutrition: The administering of nutrients for assimilation and utilization by a patient who cannot maintain adequate nutrition by enteral feeding alone. Nutrients are administered by a route other than the alimentary canal (e.g., intravenously, subcutaneously).Parenteral Nutrition, Total: The delivery of nutrients for assimilation and utilization by a patient whose sole source of nutrients is via solutions administered intravenously, subcutaneously, or by some other non-alimentary route. The basic components of TPN solutions are protein hydrolysates or free amino acid mixtures, monosaccharides, and electrolytes. Components are selected for their ability to reverse catabolism, promote anabolism, and build structural proteins.Nutrition Surveys: A systematic collection of factual data pertaining to the nutritional status of a human population within a given geographic area. Data from these surveys are used in preparing NUTRITION ASSESSMENTS.Enteral Nutrition: Nutritional support given via the alimentary canal or any route connected to the gastrointestinal system (i.e., the enteral route). This includes oral feeding, sip feeding, and tube feeding using nasogastric, gastrostomy, and jejunostomy tubes.Nutritional Sciences: The study of NUTRITION PROCESSES as well as the components of food, their actions, interaction, and balance in relation to health and disease.Nutrition Therapy: Improving health status of an individual by adjusting the quantities, qualities, and methods of nutrient intake.Nutrition Disorders: Disorders caused by nutritional imbalance, either overnutrition or undernutrition.Photography: Method of making images on a sensitized surface by exposure to light or other radiant energy.Diffusion Tensor Imaging: The use of diffusion ANISOTROPY data from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging results to construct images based on the direction of the faster diffusing molecules.Nerve Fibers, Myelinated: A class of nerve fibers as defined by their structure, specifically the nerve sheath arrangement. The AXONS of the myelinated nerve fibers are completely encased in a MYELIN SHEATH. They are fibers of relatively large and varied diameters. Their NEURAL CONDUCTION rates are faster than those of the unmyelinated nerve fibers (NERVE FIBERS, UNMYELINATED). Myelinated nerve fibers are present in somatic and autonomic nerves.Leukoencephalopathies: Any of various diseases affecting the white matter of the central nervous system.Adipose Tissue, White: Fatty tissue composed of WHITE ADIPOCYTES and generally found directly under the skin (SUBCUTANEOUS FAT) and around the internal organs (ABDOMINAL FAT). It has less vascularization and less coloration than the BROWN FAT. White fat provides heat insulation, mechanical cushion, and source of energy.Anisotropy: A physical property showing different values in relation to the direction in or along which the measurement is made. The physical property may be with regard to thermal or electric conductivity or light refraction. In crystallography, it describes crystals whose index of refraction varies with the direction of the incident light. It is also called acolotropy and colotropy. The opposite of anisotropy is isotropy wherein the same values characterize the object when measured along axes in all directions.Image Processing, Computer-Assisted: A technique of inputting two-dimensional images into a computer and then enhancing or analyzing the imagery into a form that is more useful to the human observer.

Metallothionein-null mice absorb less Zn from an egg-white diet, but a similar amount from solutions, although with altered intertissue Zn distribution. (1/328)

The influence of metallothionein (MT) on Zn transfer into non-gut tissues was investigated in MT-null (MT-/-) and normal (MT+/+) mice 4 h after oral gavage of aqueous 65ZnSO4solution at doses of 154, 385, 770 and 1540 nmol Zn per mouse. Zn transfer was not significantly different between MT+/+ and MT-/- mice and was directly proportional to the oral dose (slope = 0.127, r = 0.991; 0. 146, r = 0.994, respectively). Blood 65Zn and plasma Zn concentrations increased progressively in MT-/- mice at doses >154 nmol Zn, reaching levels of 2.4% of oral dose and 60 micromol/L, respectively, at the 1540 nmol Zn dose. The corresponding values for MT+/+ mice were approximately half, 1.0% and 29 micromol/L. Intergenotypic differences were found in tissue distribution of 65Zn within the body; MT-/- mice had higher 65Zn levels in muscle, skin, heart and brain, whereas MT+/+ mice retained progressively more Zn in the liver, in conjunction with a linear increase in hepatic MT up to the highest Zn dose. MT induction in the small intestine reached its maximum at an oral dose of 385 nmol Zn and did not differ at higher doses. Absorption of a 770 nmol 65Zn dose from a solid egg-white diet was only one fourth (MT+/+) and one eighth (MT-/-) of the Zn absorption from the same dose of 65Zn in aqueous solution. MT+/+ mice had greater (P < 0.05) Zn absorption from the egg-white diet than did MT-/- mice, indicating that gut MT confers an absorptive advantage, but only when Zn is incorporated into solid food. (+info)

Enrichment of enzyme activity on deformylation of 1-NFK-lysozyme. (2/328)

The formamide linkage of an inactive lysozyme derivative (1-NFK-lysozyme), formed by selective ozonization of tryptophan 62 in hen egg-white lysozyme [EC 3.2.1.17] was hydrolyzed with dilute acid faster in the frozen state at about --10 degrees than at 20 degrees. On hydrolysis of 1-NFK-lysozyme the low lytic activity increased to approximately 80% of that of native lysozyme. It is suggested that the binding ability associated with kynurenine 62 in the lysozyme derivative formed by this hydrolysis may be responsible for increase in enzymatic activity. (+info)

Ovalbumin in developing chicken eggs migrates from egg white to embryonic organs while changing its conformation and thermal stability. (3/328)

Ovalbumin was detected in developing chicken eggs. The large majority of these ovalbumin molecules was found to be in a heat-stable form reminiscent of S-ovalbumin. About 83 and 90% of the ovalbumin population was in a heat-stable form in day 14 or stage 40 amniotic fluid and day 18 or stage 44 egg yolk, respectively, whereas ovalbumin in newly deposited eggs was in the heat-unstable, native form. Purified preparations of stable ovalbumin from egg white and amniotic fluid showed a less ordered configuration than native ovalbumin, as analyzed by circular dichroism and differential scanning calorimetry. In addition, mass spectrometric analysis exhibited distinct size microheterogeneity between the stable and native forms of ovalbumin. Immunohisotochemical study revealed that ovalbumin was present in the central nervous system and other embryonic organs. These results indicated that egg white ovalbumin migrates into the developing embryo while changing its higher order structure. (+info)

A study of renaturation of reduced hen egg white lysozyme. Enzymically active intermediates formed during oxidation of the reduced protein. (4/328)

The material obtained from reduced hen egg white lysozyme after complete air oxidation at pH 8.0 and 37 degrees has yielded, by gel filtration on a Bio-Gel P-30 column, enzymically active species and an enzymically inactive form which eluted sooner than the active species but later than expected for a dimer of lysozyme. Reduced lysozyme also elutes at the same position as this inactive material. Examination of the fragments produced on CNBr cleavage of the inactive form indicates that at least 24% of the population contains incorrect disulfide bonds involving half-cystine residues 6, 30, 115, and 127. Tryptophan fluorescence and the intrinsic viscosity of the inactive form show an enlarged molecular domain with a disordered conformation. The yield of the inactive form increases as the oxidation of reduced lysozyme is accelerated using cupric ion. In the presence of 4 X 10(-5) M cupric ion, reduced lysozyme forms almost quantitatively the inactive form, which is almost completely converted to the native form by sulfhydryl-disulfide interchange catalyzed by thiol groups of either reduced lysozyme or beta-mercaptoethanol. The material trapped by alkylation of the free sulfhydryl groups with [1-14C]iodoacetic acid during the early stage of air oxidation of reduced lysozyme was fractionated by gel filtration to permit separation of the active species from the inactive form. Ion exchange chromatography of the active species yielded completely renatured lysozyme and three major enzymically active radioactive derivatives. Two of these derivatives contained approximately 2 mol of S-carboxymethylcysteine. Isolation and characterization of radioactive tryptic peptides from each of the three active forms, permitted the identification of Cys 6 and Cys 127, Cys 76 and 94, and Cys 80 as the sulfhydryl groups alkylated in these three incompletely oxidized, partially active forms. Thus, it appears that the interatomic interactions maintaining the compact three-dimensional structure of native lysozyme are operational even when one of these three native disulfide bonds between Cys 6 and Cys 127, Cys 76 and Cys 94, and Cys 64 and 80 is open. (+info)

The non-enzymatic microbicidal activity of lysozymes. (5/328)

T4 lysozyme was thought to destroy bacteria by its muramidase activity. However, we demonstrate here that amphipathic helix stretches in the C-terminus of T4 lysozyme mediate its bactericidal and fungistatic activities. In heat-denatured T4 lysozyme, the enzymatic activity is completely abolished but unexpectedly, the antimicrobial functions remain preserved. Small synthetic peptides corresponding to amphipathic C-terminal domains of T4 lysozyme show a microbicidal activity. Its membrane disturbing activity was directly demonstrated for bacterial, fungal and plant cells but not in a hemolysis assay. Comparable results were obtained with hen egg white lysozyme. This opens up many new opportunities for optimization of lysozymes as antimicrobial agents in various applications by protein engineering. (+info)

Sulfhydryl oxidase from egg white. A facile catalyst for disulfide bond formation in proteins and peptides. (6/328)

Both metalloprotein and flavin-linked sulfhydryl oxidases catalyze the oxidation of thiols to disulfides with the reduction of oxygen to hydrogen peroxide. Despite earlier suggestions for a role in protein disulfide bond formation, these enzymes have received comparatively little general attention. Chicken egg white sulfhydryl oxidase utilizes an internal redox-active cystine bridge and a FAD moiety in the oxidation of a range of small molecular weight thiols such as glutathione, cysteine, and dithiothreitol. The oxidase is shown here to exhibit a high catalytic activity toward a range of reduced peptides and proteins including insulin A and B chains, lysozyme, ovalbumin, riboflavin-binding protein, and RNase. Catalytic efficiencies are up to 100-fold higher than for reduced glutathione, with typical K(m) values of about 110-330 microM/protein thiol, compared with 20 mM for glutathione. RNase activity is not significantly recovered when the cysteine residues are rapidly oxidized by sulfhydryl oxidase, but activity is efficiently restored when protein disulfide isomerase is also present. Sulfhydryl oxidase can also oxidize reduced protein disulfide isomerase directly. These data show that sulfhydryl oxidase and protein disulfide isomerase can cooperate in vitro in the generation and rearrangement of native disulfide pairings. A possible role for the oxidase in the protein secretory pathway in vivo is discussed. (+info)

Graphical representation of the salient conformational features of protein residues. (7/328)

A composite plot for depicting in two dimensions the conformation and the secondary structural features of protein residues has been developed. Instead of presenting the exact values of the main- and side-chain torsion angles (φ, psi and chi(1)), it indicates the region in the three-dimensional conformational space to which a residue belongs. Other structural aspects, like the presence of a cis peptide bond and disulfide linkages, are also displayed. The plot may be used to recognize patterns in the backbone and side-chain conformation along a polypeptide chain and to compare protein structures derived from X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy or molecular modelling studies and also to highlight the effect of mutation on structure. (+info)

The carbohydrates of the isoforms of three avian riboflavin-binding proteins. (8/328)

The carbohydrate chains of nine isoforms of chicken egg-white riboflavin-binding protein (RfBP) and six isoforms each of quail egg-white and yolk RfBP have been structurally characterized. The two N-glycosylation sites, Asn36 and Asn147, of the most abundant isoform of each of the three proteins were analyzed in further detail leading to the identification of different glycosylation patterns. In both chicken and quail egg-white RfBP the carbohydrates attached to position 36 had a lower degree of branching and, in the case of the quail protein, this site was only partially glycosylated. A very heterogeneous mixture of complex structures was characteristic of the other glycosylation site. Analysis of the two sites in quail yolk RfBP confirmed this result which agrees with what has been established for hen yolk RfBP. The presence in the three proteins of a highly heterogeneous mixture of differently branched glycans suggests that the differences in isoelectric points, which is a peculiarity of the different isoforms, are probably indeed due to differences in carbohydrate structure. (+info)