IDENTIFICATION OF WALLABY MILK WHEY PROTEINS SEPARATED BY 2-DIMENSIONAL ELECTROPHORESIS, USING AMINO-ACID-ANALYSIS AND SEQUENCE TAGGING

Micropreparative two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ha s been used to separate milk whey proteins from the Tammar wallaby (Ma cropus eugenii). We have used a combination of amino acid analysis and N-terminal sequence tagging as a rapid and sensitive method to identi fy the major whey proteins. Using these techniques, we confidently ide ntified alpha-lactalbumin and late lactation protein. While these are the only two M. eugenii whey proteins with a corresponding SWISS-PROT entry, we demonstrate that by using amino acid analysis and matching a cross species boundaries, we can identify previously unsequenced conse rved wallaby whey proteins including beta-lactoglobulin and serum albu min.