Nonfreezing Water Structuration in Heteroprotein Coacervates

Langmuir. 2015 Aug 11;31(31):8661-6. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5b01647. Epub 2015 Jul 29.

Abstract

Surface-bound water in protein solutions has been identified with a reduction in its freezing point. We studied the presence of such nonfreezing water (NFW) in various protein-polyelectrolyte, micelle-polyelectrolyte, and protein-protein (heteroprotein) coacervates, along with appropriate concentrated solutions of macromolecules alone, finding up to 15% w/w NFW for the heteroprotein coacervate of lactoferrin (LF) and β-lactoglobulin (BLG). The level of NFW is always higher in coacervates than in the control (single macromolecule) systems, particularly for protein-containing coacervates: a coacervate of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and poly(dimethyldiallylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) showed a ratio of NFW/protein twice that of BSA alone (0.6 vs 0.3), with a similarly high ratio for LF-BLG coacervate. These results are attributed to the maximization of water-protein contacts, structural features that reflect the mode of sample assembly, as they are not seen in a noncoacervated LF-BLG solution with identical concentrations of all species.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Electrolytes / chemistry
  • Lactoferrin / chemistry*
  • Lactoglobulins / chemistry*
  • Micelles
  • Molecular Structure
  • Polymers / chemistry
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine / chemistry*
  • Surface Properties
  • Water / chemistry*

Substances

  • Electrolytes
  • Lactoglobulins
  • Micelles
  • Polymers
  • Water
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine
  • Lactoferrin