Isolation and characterization of goat submaxillary-mucin

Mucin from the submaxillary glands of goats was isolated by precipitation from an aqueous extract with a cationic detergent, followed by dissolution in CaCl2 solution, and fractionation on a DEAE-cellulose column, Five homogeneous, mucin fractions were isolated by NaCl-gradient elution of the column. One of the fractions was obtained in major yield (46%); it was homogeneous by paper electrophoresis, and contained carbohydrates (46.4%) and protein (48.9%). The sugars were fucose, galactose, glucose, mannose, 2-acetamido-2-deoxygalactose, 2-acetamido-2-deoxyglucose, and N-acetylneuraminic acid. The principal amino acids were alanine, glutamic acid, glycine, proline, serine, threonine, and valine. The proportions of these residues were determined.