Identification of α-lactalbumin and β-lactoglobulin in cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis) milk

Abstract 1. 1. An electrophoretic analysis of whey protein from cynomolgus monkey milk revealed that its consituents are more similar to bovine milk than human milk, i.e. cynomolgus monkey milk whey contains, besides α-lactalbumin-like protein (LaP), another predominant component similar to bovine β-lactoglobulin (LgP), in its electrophoretic behavior on both disc- and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoreses. 2. 2. The amino acid composition of LaP shows close similarity to that of human α-lactalbumin, and LaP forms an immunoprecipitin line with anti-human α-lactalbumin rabbit antiserum. The homology between LaP and α-lactalbumin was further confirmed by an alaysis of the N -terminal amino acid sequence. 3. 3. LgP is not immunologically identical to bovine β-lactoglobulin, but its amino acid composition is similar. The result of the N -terminal amino acid seuence analysis of LgP (up to the 26th residue) strongly suggests homology between this protein and β-lactoglobulin.