An electrophoretic study of the egg white proteins of various birds.

The ovalbumins of chickens, turkeys, guinea-hens, ducks, and geese show varying immunological similarities, although it is possible to distinguish the five albumins with selected sera against chicken ovalbumin (1). Furthermore, mixtures of two albumins, such as guinea-hen and duck ovalbumin, can be clearly distinguished electrophoretically (2). Marked specificities are shown by the electrophoretic diagrams of the blood serum (3) and plasma proteins (4) as well as by the milk whey proteins (5) of various animals. Such previous findings prompted an investigation of the proteins of the egg white of a number of birds. It was found that the egg white proteins of each species can be identified by their electrophoretic properties, although only relatively slight differences are observed between species in which previous studies have shown that the ovalbumins are closely related immunologically.