Abstract
Camel milk is traditionally known to have medicinal properties and many potential health benefits. Natural milk contains many soluble proteins and nanoparticles, such as a milk fat globule membrane (MFGM), a three-layered membrane covering of milk fat globule mainly composed of proteins and lipids, which plays an important role in human health. MFGM proteins account for 1%–4% of total milk proteins, and their nutritive value and distribution depends on the different breeds. The differential composition of these membrane proteins among different camel breeds has not been explored. The current study, therefore, aimed to quantitatively analyze and compare the MFGM proteome between the milk produced by the two most common Saudi camel breeds, Camelus dromedarius: Safra and Wadha. Two-dimensional difference in gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and mass spectrometry analysis revealed a total of 44 MFGM proteins that were identified with a significant difference in abundance (p ≤ 0.05; fold change ≥ 1.5) between the two breeds. Thirty-one proteins were up-regulated and 13 proteins were down-regulated in the Safra breed compared to the Wadha breed. The proteins identified with an increased abundance included α-lactalbumin, lactadherin, and annexin a8, whereas the down-regulated proteins included butyrophilin subfamily 1 member a1, lactotransferrin, and vinculin. The differentially abundant proteins were analyzed by the UNIPROT system and gene ontology (GO) to reveal their associations with known biological functions and pathways. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) confirmed the 2D-DIGE findings of butyrophilin (BTN) and α-lactalbumin (α-LA) levels obtained from Safra and Wadha breeds.
Highlights
Camel milk has been consumed for thousands of years because of its immense nutritional value and health benefits
Cy3 are shown in Figure 1A; milk fat globule membrane (MFGM)-Wadha sample labeled with Cy5 (Figure 1B), and a pooled internal control labeled with Cy2 (Figure 1C)
A total of 820 spots were mapped on the gels, of which 60 were significantly different (ANOVA p ≤ 0.05 and fold change ≥ 1.5) between the MFGM samples from Safra and Wadha breeds (Figure 2)
Summary
Camel milk has been consumed for thousands of years because of its immense nutritional value and health benefits. Camel milk has been utilized as medication for treating many diseases including gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes mellitus, food allergy, cancer, and hepatitis C and B [1,4,5,6,7]. Camel milk has differential in vitro antimicrobial activities against many pathogens [6,7], based on its bioactive proteins and/or peptides [1,8,9,10,11,12]. The characteristics and composition of camel milk are known to differ due to various factors, including the breed of the camel, conditions of feeding, the health of the animal, calving number, stage of lactation, geographical location, and with seasons [13,14].
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