Grant: Idea to Innovation

Ovomucin comprises about ~ 3.5% of total egg white proteins but is the primary contributor to the gel-like nature of egg white. In addition to its excellent gelling and emulsifying properties, ovomucin has been reported to have antivirus, antitumor, and cholesterol-lowering activities. Moreover, as a rich source of sialic acid, ovomucin can be developed as infant dietary supplement for improving brain development and learning ability. Utilization of this protein, however, has been hampered due to the lack of an efficient method of extraction of highly purified ovomucin. A novel method of ovomucin extraction (provisional patent applied) producing purities greater than 90%, compared to less than 70% by the conventional methods, has been developed at the principal investigator's laboratory. In the new method, egg white was first extracted in the presence of 100 mM NaCl at pH 6.0 to produce a precipitate containing moderate co-precipitated ovalbumin (14.6%) and lysozyme (15.9%); the contaminated proteins in the precipitate were further removed by using 500 mM NaCl. Yield of ovomucin extraction by the new method was 400.2 mg/100 g of egg white which was significantly higher than the conventional method of extraction. In the project, conditions of ovomucin extraction will be optimized in order to improve the extraction efficiency and scale-up experiments will be performed to facilitate the demobilization of the technology for industry application. Results from the project will be part of a patent treaty cooperation application to protect the intellectual property. The project will train highly qualified personnel. Success of the project will help Canadian egg industry maintain high competitiveness by providing a superior quality product, diversify the use of eggs, and foster bio-based sustainable growth of the industry through the transformation of the Canadian egg industry from its traditional focus on table eggs and food applications to a far more lucrative one based on bio-product development.