Indexing and Environmental Risk of Allergenic Protein Subunits of Egyptian Pollens

Abstract

Four Egyptian pollen pellets: sunflower, clover, maize and broad beans, were evaluated for environmental risk of allergenic protein subunits, indexing amino acids, as well as nucleic acids contents. Protein fractions were subsequently extracted as albumin, globulin, urea and SDS-soluble proteins, by different methods. The results showed that albumin and globulin fractions represent the major constituents in different pollen pellets and amounted 33.24-40.3% and 32.57-37.22% respectively. SDS soluble protein showed minor amount. The electrophoretic separation of albumin and globulin extracts of sunflower pollen showed the presence of 8 protein subunits, which varied in their molecular weight between 4-67 KiloDalton (KDa); allergic protein subunits with MW 35 and 45 KDa were identified in all pollen pellets tested. Indexing and general analysis of the four pollen pellets showed that carbohydrates ranged from 28.12 (maize) to 36.12 (sunflower), while total chlorophyll ranged from 5.85 (broad bean) to 6.07 (maize) mg/100 g fresh weight. It is also clear that the protein content of pollen pellets is above 40% and therefore they could be considered as a protein rich source. Broad bean pellets had the highest amount of protein content (48.31%). The lipid content ranged from 4.47 to 15.7%, according to pollen source. All pollen pellets contained relatively high quantities of RNA, which are nearly three times the equivalent of DNA content. Relative values of total free amino acids of four pollens were considerably low (below 20%) and ranged from 2.93 ± 0.089 (sunflower) to 15.99 ± 0.015 µmol/ mg fw.