Table 1.
Composition and biological functions of the major duck and hen egg albumen proteins
| Protein | Source of albumen | Ovalbumin | Ovomucoid | Conalbumin (ovotransferrin) | Ovomucin | Lysozyme | Ovomacroglobulin | Flavoprotein | Avidin | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percent of the total proteina | Duck | 40.0 | 10.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.03 | Mine (1995) |
| Hen | 54 | 11 | 12 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.05 | Huang and Lin (2011) | |
| Molecular weight (kDa) | Duck | 43.49 | 28.0 | 70.0 | ND | 15.0 | ND | 33.0 | 48.1 | Hu et al. (2016), Hytönen et al. (2003), Miguel et al. (2005) |
| Hen | 44.5 | ~28.0 | 77.7 | 5.5–8.3 × 103 | 14.0 | 769.0 | 32.0 | 60.1 | Hytönen et al. (2003), Miguel et al. (2005), Mine (1995) | |
| Biological functionalities | Phosphoglyco-protein | Inhibits trypsin | Binds metallic ions | Staloprotein; viscous | Lyses some bacteria | Inhibits serine and cysteine proteases | Binds riboflavin | Binds biotin | Mine (1995), Belitz et al. (2009) | |
ND not determined
aAverage values