α-Lactalbumin is the second major protein in bovine milk (2-5% of the total protein in bovine milk). The human variant has several physiologic functions in the neonatal period. In the mammary gland, it participates in lactose synthesis and facilitates milk production and secretion. α-Lactalbumin binds divalent cations (Ca Zn) and may facilitate the absorption of essential minerals. Also, it pro...

A bacterial artificial chromosome goat insert comprising the alpha-lactalbumin-encoding transcription unit with approximately 150 and 10 kb of 5'- and 3'-flanking sequences, respectively, was micro-injected into mouse eggs. In six out of seven transgenic lines, the level of mammary tissue- and stage-specific expression was position-independent and copy-number-dependent. The exogenous alpha-lact...

Interstitium contains a matrix of fibrous molecules that creates considerable resistance to water and solutes in series with the microvessel wall. On the basis of our preliminary studies, by using laser-scanning confocal microscopy and a theoretical model for interstitial transport, we determined both microvessel solute permeability (P) and solute tissue diffusion coefficient (D) of alpha-lacta...

the presence of antibacterial activity in bovine β-lactoglobulin and in α-lactalbumin hydrolysates was investigated. the plasmin-digest of β-lactoglobulin (pdβ) and of α-lactalbumin (pdα) were fractionated, using reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography. the antibacterial activity of β-lactoglobulin, α-lactalbumin, nisin, plasmin, pdβ and pdα were in vitro tested against pathogenic...

Nucleotide sequence analyses of essentially full-length copies of human and guinea-pig pre-alpha-lactalbumin cDNAs contained within recombinant plasmids, (i) confirm the presence of 19 amino acid hydrophobic amino terminal peptide extensions encoded within each mRNA; and (ii) provides evidence for the existence of a minor variant of guinea-pig alpha-lactalbumin mRNA encoding a protein with a 36...

HAMLET (Human a-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells) is a protein-lipid complex that kills tumor cells and immature cells but spares healthy, differentiated cells. The complex is formed from partially unfolded a-lactalbumin and oleic acid, both of which are abundant constituents of human milk. The folding change occurs after removal of Ca2+ from native a-lactalbumin, and the partially unfold...

There are many potential applications of transgenic methodologies for developing new and improved strains of livestock. One practical application of transgenic technology in pig production is to improve milk production or composition. The first week after parturition is the period of greatest loss for pig producers, with highest morbidity and mortality attributed to malnutrition and scours. Des...

One hundred eighty 3-wk-old pigs (initial weight 4.8 kg) were utilized in a 35-d growth trial to determine the effects of the carbohydrate and(or) protein fraction of dried whey on pig performance. In addition, 30, 3-wk-old pigs (initial weight 4.9 kg) were used in two digestion trials to study the effects of the whey fraction on nutrient digestibility. Dietary treatments included a corn-soybea...

The region(s) of bovine galactosyltransferase that interacts with the lactose synthase regulatory protein a-lactalbumin was investigated using trace 3H acetylation to probe the effects of a-lactalbumin on the reactivities of the individual amino groups of galactosyltransferase. In the presence of Mn2+, a-lactalbumin was found to reduce the reactivities of lysines 93 and 181 and to increase the ...