Iso-electric focusing of camel milk proteins

The procedure for phenotyping of most genetic variants in cow milk was optimised for iso-elctric focusing (IEF) of camel milk proteins and milk from individual camels of different breeds was screened. The caseins obtained from IEF bands were also investigated by N-terminal sequencing. Camel milk casein was separated at different pH and the proteins in the whey obtained were then separated by IEF. Above pH 4.3 casein bands were observed in the whey. According to the pattern of protein bands in IEF, the 103 camels screened had one of the three main groups of milk designated as aa, nb and, bb. A small number of camels differed from bb milk type by an extra band and this group was designated as bb(1). The high frequency of particular milk type in some breeds suggests that their production characteristics could be related to the phenotypes. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.