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. 2020 Mar 20;21(6):2156. doi: 10.3390/ijms21062156

Table 1.

Different whey protein molecular weights associated with post-translational modifications (PTMs).

Protein Mol. Weight (kDa) Theoretical mol. Weight (kDa)* PTM Method of Isolation/Purification Identification Ref.
β-LG 18 18.277 - standard of β-LG (protein content > 90%) SDS-PAGE
MALDI-TOF-MS
[5]
18.5
β-LG 18.3 18.277 monomeric and the dimeric forms at pH 7.4 glycated β-lactoglobulin β-LG was dissolved in 9.1 mM glucose in water, and the pH was adjusted to 7 with 50 mM phosphate buffer MALDI-TOF-MS [16]
36.6
β-LG 17.4 18.277 - anion-exchange chromatography (DEAE-Sepharose) SDS-PAGE [17]
β-LG 19.9 18.277 proteins appeared as strings of spots, indicating their different isoforms with different charges as a result of PTMs occurring prior to secretion precipitation via ammonium sulphate fractionation 2-DE [18]
α-LA 16.2 16.247 MALDI-MS
α-LA 14.1 16.247 small mass differences ruled out PTMs, such as phosphorylation and glycosylation precipitation by ammonium sulphate MALDI-TOF-MS [19]
SA 67.7 (SA) 69.367 glycosylation of specific milk proteins was shown to vary during lactation; no potential N-glycosylation and O-linked glycans (SA), known N-linked glycoprotein (LTF) 0.5 mL of raw milk was centrifuged at 4 °C for 30 min, fat and cellular layers were removed; residual lipids were removed by addition of three volumes (1.5 mL) of 2:1 chloroform/methanol, agitation, retaining of supernatant; protein was precipitated from supernatant with ethanol overnight at 4 °C, followed by centrifugation; precipitate was re-suspended in 50 mM ammonium bicarbonate buffer (pH 7.5); glycans were separated by SDS-PAGE and extracted for MALDI-MS analysis MALDI-MS [20]
79.8 (LTF)
LTF 69.0 (SA) 78.056 LC–MS/MS
78.0 (LTF)
LTF 80.002 78.056 - milk was defatted by centrifugation, and the pH was then adjusted to 4.6 using hydrochloric acid; precipitated casein was removed by centrifugation RP-LC–MS/MS [21]

*values of theoretical molecular weight of the proteins from the Uniprot database (bovine, and for SA-human); Uniprot KB: α-LA—P00711; LTF—P24627; SA—P02768, the value for β-LG accounts for form B from publication of Eigel et al. [22].