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The highly glycosylated protein MUC1 was purified from bovine milk-fat globule membranes by a procedure involving detergent extraction, ion-exchange chromatography and reverse-phase chromatography. The identity of the purified mucin protein was confirmed by N-terminal sequencing and partial amino acid sequences obtained by peptide mapping. The complete amino acid sequence of MUC1 was determined by cloning and sequencing the corresponding bovine mammary gland cDNA, which was shown to encode a protein of 580 amino acid residues comprising a cleavable signal peptide of 22 residues. The deduced amino acid sequence demonstrated structural features characteristic for mucins, including an extracellular tandem repeat region with 11 partially conserved repeats (20 amino acids each), a membrane-proximal SEA module, a transmembrane domain, and a cytoplasmic C-terminal region. Monosaccharide composition determinations suggested significant structural differences between O-linked glycans of MUC1 originating from either bovine or human milk. Interspecies differences of the consensus repeat sequence in MUC1 and the physiological functions are discussed.

Bovine lactoferrin was separated into lactoferrin-a and lactoferrin-b from bovine colostrum. Lactoferrin-a was eluted at 0.38 M NaCl and lactoferrin-b was eluted at 0.43 M NaCl by carboxymethyl cation-exchange chromatography at pH 7.7, 0.05 M phosphate buffer. The molecular weights were estimated at 84,000 for lactoferrin-a and 80,000 for lactoferrin-b. Lactoferrin-a contents were 258.0 mg/L and lactoferrin-b contents were 524.3 mg/L of colostrum for cow 19. From colostrum to normal milk, total lactoferrin was from 17.1 to 129.4 mg/L during the normal lactational period; however, lactoferrin did not separate clearly into lactoferrin-a and lactoferrin-b. The lactoferrin-a measured from six cows was 258.0, 114.0, 112.8, 64.0, 59.7, and 22.4 mg/ L and the lactoferrin-b 524.3, 331.8, 184.7, 170.7, 129.3, and 44.0 mg/L, respectively. The average was 105.2 mg (31.3%) for lactoferrin-a and 230.8 mg (68.7%) for lactoferrin-b.