Isolation and characterization of mucin-like glycoprotein in human milk fat globule membrane.

Milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) enclosing fat droplets in human milk was found to contain a high molecular weight glycoprotein which did not migrate in 10% acrylamide gel on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). This glycoprotein (termed PAS-0) was isolated by Sepharose CL-4B chromatography. Isolated PAS-0 gave one band on SDS-PAGE using 5% acrylamide gel (acrylamide : bisacrylamide = 4 : 1, w/w) and gave one peak on analytical ultracentrifugation, indicating its homogeneity. PAS-0 was rich in serine, threonine, proline, glycine, and alanine. In contrast, contents of sulfur-containing amino acids were very low. Fucose, galactose, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine, and sialic acid were detected as constituent sugars of PAS-0 and the total carbohydrate content was about 50%. Alkali-borohydride treatment suggested that the carbohydrate moiety was linked to the polypeptide core with O-glycosidic bond(s). There results suggested that PAS-0 was a mucin-like glycoprotein. PAS-0 was shown to be resistant to pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin digestion, but susceptible to Pronase and Subtilisin BPN'. Extraction of intact milk fat globules (cream) with MgCl2 and guanidine hydrochloride solutions suggested that PAS-0 was an intrinsic component of MFGM. Digestion of cream with Subtilisin BPN' demonstrated that PAS-0 was located on the external surface of fat globules and was accessible to molecules outside the globules. By agglutination-inhibition tests using eight lectins, PAS-0 was suggested to act as surface receptors for Ricinus communis agglutinin, wheat germ agglutinin and peanut agglutinin.