Purification and Identification of a Natural Antioxidant Protein from Fertilized Eggs

Fertilized hen eggs are rich in a variety of bioactive ingredients. In this study, we aimed to obtain an antioxidant protein from fertilized eggs and the radical scavenging abilities on 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl radical (•OH), superoxide anion (O^2-•) were used to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the purified protein. During 20 d of incubation, the radical scavenging ability of protein extracted from fertilized eggs exhibited significantly differences and the protein on day 16 showed higher antioxidant capacity. Based on this, the antioxidant protein of the samples on day 16 were isolated for the follow-up study. With a molecular weight 43.22 kDa, the antioxidant protein was purified by Diethylaminoethyl cellulose -52 (DEAE-52) column and Sephadex G-100. The LC-MS analysis showed that the purified protein molecular weight was 43.22 kDa, named D2-S. The sequence of amino acids was highly similar to ovalbumin and the coverage reached to 84%. The purified protein showed a radical scavenging rate of 52.34±3.27% on DPPH and 63.49±0.25% on •OH, respectively. Furthermore, the C-terminal amino acid sequence was NAVLFFGRCVSP, which was consistent with the sequence of ovabumin. These results here indicated that purified protein may be a potential resource as a natural antioxidant.