Behavior of fatty acid during the incubation of bovine serum albumin. Entity of the serum albumin resistant to heat

The solution of bovine serum albumin, incubated at pH 9 (0.1 M Tris-EDTA-boric acid buffer in which 0.15 M KCl was contained) and 65 °C for 60 min, gave zones of undenatured monomer (component 1) and aggregates in the pattern of gel electrophoresis. The component 1, isolated from this solution, contained more fatty acids than the original albumin and than the mixture of aggregates. The aggregates contained substantially no fatty acids. This means that fatty acids are released, when the bovine albumin is denatured accompanying with intra- and intermolecular SH/S-S exchange reactions. Taking palmitic acid as a representative of the long chain fatty acid, a model experiment was performed. The bovine albumin, to which 6 palmitic acids were bound, did not cause the SH/S-S exchange reaction and was not denatured on incubation at pH 9 (0.1 M Tris-EDTA-boric acid buffer) and 65 °C. When the solution of “crystalline bovine albumin” (AF_0.9, A: albumin, F: long chain fatty acid) was incubated at pH 9 (0.1 M Tris-EDTA-boric acid buffer) and 65 °C, 20% of the albumin was not denatured even after prolonged incubation. Further, when the component 1 (AF_3.8), isolated from pre-incubated albumin solution, was incubated again at pH 9 and 65 °C, 58% of the albumin was not denatured even after sufficient time of incubation. Quantitative analysis reveals that the bovine albumin containing 6 fatty acids (AF₆) is not denatured at all, and is the entity of the albumin resistant to heat.