Bactericidal Action of Egg Yolk Phosvitin against Escherichia coli under Thermal Stress

Abstract

Chicken egg yolk phosvitin showed a remarkable antibacterial effect against Escherichia coli under thermal stress at 50 degrees C. E. coli cells (10(6)/mL) completely disappeared in 1 mL of L-broth coexisting with 0.l mg/mL phosvitin when incubated at 50 degrees C for 20 min, whereas a considerable amount of cells (10(5)/mL) survived at the same thermal stress without phosvitin. Blocking of the chelating effect of phosvitin by the addition of Ca(2+) ion displayed a protective effect against the bactericidal activity at 50 degrees C. In addition, the antibacterial activity of phosvitin was dramatically reduced by treatment with alpha-chymotrypsin, although the chelating effect remained. The surface properties, such as interfacial tension and emulsifying properties of phosvitin, which are an index of the affinity with the outer membrane, were greatly reduced by the alpha-chymotrypsin digestion. This indicates that the alpha-chymotrypsin-digested membrane-penetrating hydrophobic domains at the N- and C-terminal regions play an important role in antibacterial activity. These results suggest that a significant part of the bactericidal activity of phosvitin against E. coli resides in the synergistic effect of the high metal-chelating ability and the high surface activity under the influence of thermal stress.

The effect of citrus and onion peel extracts, calcium lactate, and phosvitin on microbial quality of seasoned chicken breast meat

“…In addition, egg yolk phosvitin is a heavily phosphorylated protein which can be used in meat industry as a strong metal chelating agent due to its unique primary structure (Jung et al, 2012a: Vieira, 2007. High iron binding capacity conveys the bactericidal and antioxidant properties of phosvitin (Jung et al, 2012b: Lee et al, 2002: Sattar et al, 2000.…”

Phosvitin Plays a Critical Role in the Immunity of Zebrafish Embryos via Acting as a Pattern Recognition Receptor and an Antimicrobial Effector

“…Both Pv and lipovitellin are the proteolytically cleaved products of a high molecular mass lipoglycophosphoprotein, vitellogenin, and are traditionally regarded as the yolk reserves of nutrients essential for growth and development (28). Interestingly, as a major component of yolk proteins, chicken Pv has been shown to be able to inhibit the growth of the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli (29) via chelating ions through its numerous phosphorylated serine residues (30,31). In addition, vitellogenin, the precursor of Pv, has also been revealed to be an antimicrobial agent involved in immune defense in fish (32)(33)(34)(35)(36).…”

Functional Proteins and Peptides of Hen’s Egg Origin

“…The conjugation of egg yolk phosvitin with galactomannan produces a novel macromolecular antioxidant with significantly improved emulsifying activity and emulsion-stabilizing activity [8]. The antibacterial activity of phosvitin has been investigated against Escherichia coli and suggested that a significant part of the bactericidal activity of phosvitin could be attributed to the synergistic effects of the high metal-chelating ability and the high surface activity under the influence of thermal stress [9]. Phosvitin and the phosvitin-galactomannan conjugate may represent safe anti-bacterial agents for foods.…”