AOAC SPIFAN Stakeholder Panel Meeting Book (September 7, 2019)

Chemical structure lactoferrin

X Molecular mass of approximately 78 kDa X Structure is formed by two symmetrical lobes (N-lobe and C-lobe) connected with an alpha helix X The chain includes ~700 amino acids, species dependent X LF is glycosylated, although the number and location of potential glycosylation sites are species dependent

Anghel, 2014

Chemical structure lactoferrin

X It has high affinity for iron; each lobe can bind reversibly one ferric ion X Iron is released from LF when the molecule undergoes protonation of aspartic acid and histidine residues at low pH X The iron depleted form of LF is called apo-LF (0- 6% saturation), the iron saturated form is called holo-LF (76-100% saturation) X LF has very high isoelectric point (pI) at around 8– 9 due to a unique basic region in the N-terminal X The most important parameters which affect the structure of LF are pH, temperature, high pressure, ionic strength and the presence of other proteins and polysaccharides

Anghel, 2014