INVESTIGATION OF CHICKEN EGG-YOLK GLYCOSAMINOGLYCANS

A polysaccharide fraction was extracted from the dry delipidated chick en egg yolk by digestion with papain. Chromatography of the papain dig est on Sephacryl S-300 gave a broad peak (K-av = 0.47) of dimethylmeth ylene blue (DMB)-reactive polysaccharide fraction, which accounted for approximately 4% of the dry-delipidated egg yolk. The fraction was no t susceptible to any of the glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-degrading enzymes (e.g. Streptomyces hyaluronidase and heparitinase). It contained appro ximately 20% carbohydrates consisting of galactose, mannose and glucos amine, and 39% protein with serine as the most abundant amino acid. No uronic acid was detected in the DMB-reactive fraction. It was conclud ed that uronic acid containing GAGs were not detected in the egg yolk.