Identification of candidate proteins interacted with ovalbumin during the early phase of embryonic development

In the present study, protein complexes emerged in high molecular weight (MW) region (95–170 kDa) were observed in fertilised chicken egg white after 7 days of incubation. Investigations were performed to reveal the possible proteins involved in these complexes. The emerged 10 protein bands from SDS-PAGE gel were confirmed to be ovalbumin through matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS/MS) followed by Western blot analysis. To reveal the possible interactions among ovalbumin and other egg white proteins, LC connected to LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer was used. Besides ovalbumin, 11 egg white proteins were identified including ovotransferrin, lysozyme, ovalbumin-related protein X, ovalbumin-related protein Y, hep21, alpha-enolase, ovoinhibitor, and a protein similar to ryanodine receptor 1. These results indicated widespread thermal-induced protein interactions among ovalbumin and other egg white proteins.