Egg White Lysozyme 3. The Effect of pH on the Lysozyme-Ovomucin Interaction

Abstract THE precipitation of ovomucin by adding lysozyme to a crude ovomucin suspension or to thick egg white offers many possibilities for further consideration in the search for the cause or mechanism of egg white thinning. Hawthorne (1950) suggested that the thinning of thick white may be due to the action of lysozyme on ovomucin. However, he could find no direct evidence that lysozyme acts as an enzyme as in the case of the lysis of M. lysodeikticus in which an increase in reducing substances is observed. He suggested the possibility that this protein-protein interaction may involve structural changes in ovomucin since only a partial swelling of this fraction occurred after the removal of lysozyme from the coagulum by washing with a two percent potassium chloride solution. Feeney el al. (1952) observed that lysozyme activity decreased about 20–25 percent in egg white when shell eggs were stored at 2°C. for …