Milk proteomics

Introduction

Milk contains a few proteins in relatively high concentration. This are the 4 different casein, α-lactalbumin, and β-lactoglobulin. Next to these 6 proteins, a wide range of hundreds of low abundant proteins occur. These low-abundant proteins have a wide range of activities: immune-related (e.g. immunoglobulins, complement factors, lactoferrin), enzymes (e.g. lactoperoxidase, lysozyme), growth-factors (e.g. IGF-I), bio-active peptides (e.g. break-down products of caseins having a blood-pressure lowering effect). Advanced proteomics techniques can be used to study these proteins, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Aim

The main goals of the milk proteomics research are:

• Identification, quantification, and understanding of the immune proteins in milk. Of interest is also the differences between mammalian species, as this may shed a light on the evolutionary origin of these proteins.
• Determine digestibility and functionality of the immune proteins present in different types of milk.

This is a multidisciplinary research line, in which several groups of Wageningen University are brought together, with collaborators like the Laboratory of Biochemistry, the Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre, the Cell Biology and Immunology group and others.

Approach

The general aims mentioned above are currently being studied in several separate PhD projects.