ALBUMIN (ELEPHANT)

APHRODISIN (HAMSTER)
APOLIPOPROTEIN D (HUMAN)

A.P.SWETHA,
LS14128.
 MAJOR URINARY PROTEIN

• Major urinary proteins (mups), also known as α2u-globulins, are a subfamily of

proteins found in abundance in the urine and other secretions of many animals.
• mups provide a small range of identifying information about the donor animal,
when detected by the vomeronasal organ of the receiving animal.
• They belong to a larger family of proteins known as lipocalins.
 LIPOCALIN
• Lipocalins are a family of proteins that typically exhibit a molecular
mass in the range of 17–30 kda.
• Their main function seems to be the transport of low molecular mass
hydrophobic substances such as retinol, progesterone, odorants, and even
pheromones within hydrophilic environments.
• Lipocalins have been associated with many biological processes, among them
immune response, Pheromone transport, biological prostaglandin synthesis,
retinoid binding & cancer cell interactions.
 
 ALBUMIN (ELEPHANT)

• Adult Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus) females communicate their peri-

ovulatory state by excreting a sex pheromone, (Z)-7-dodecen-1-yl acetate (Z7-
12:Ac), in their urine.
• Quantitative solid phase micro extraction (SPME) showed that the urinary (Z7-
12:Ac) concentration various from nondetectable levels (<1 nM) during the
luteal phase of the estrus cycle to high micromolecular levels in the days just
prior to ovulation (follicular phase).
 Cont....

• Changes in pheromone concentration correlates with oscillations of total urinary

protein concentration (from 64.7 1.9 µg/ml in the luteal stage to 97.6 1.4 µg/ml
prior to ovulation) and pH (7.7 in the luteal phase, 8.4 prior to ovulation).
• Male elephant exhibit a range of responses to the pheromone, beginning with
olfactory sniffs followed by check & place responses, in which the male touches
the pheromone- containing urine with the muciferous trunk tip.
Cont....

• The major protein of elephant urine is albumin, as revealed by N terminal

sequencing of proteins separated by electrophoresis.
• Albumin is present in the urine as a both monomer (66 kDa) & as a dimer (132
kDa)
 ALBUMIN IN PHEROMONE SIGNALING

• Transporting (Z7-12:Ac) from serum into the urine

• Extending the presence of pheromone in the environment without hampering
detection
• Targeting pheromone delivery to chemosensory organs through localized release
of the ligand induced by a pH change.
 APHRODISIN (HAMSTER)

• The vaginal secretions of female golden hamsters (mesocricetus auratus )

contain aphrodisiac substances that facilitate the mating behavior of the male.
• Aphrodisin is a 17 kda soluble glycosylated protein originally isolated from
hamster vaginal discharges, in which it occurs in relatively high concentrations
(5 wg/mg of discharge).
• The aphrodisin gene is expressed in vagina, uterus, bartholin's glands and also in
female hamster parotid glands .
• It stimulates male copulatory behavior via the vomeronasal organ, but occurs in
vaginal discharges before females reach fertility suggesting another unknown
function for aphrodisin
Cont....
• Aphrodisin consists of 151 amino acids with two disulphide bonds and a
blocked n-terminus (pyroglutamic acid).
• Each n-glycosylation site (n41 and n69) is linked with only one n-
acetylglucosamine (GLcNAc) residue .
• Aphrodisins were equally able to efficiently bind odors (2-isobutyl-3-
methoxypyrazine and methyl thiobutyrate) and a pheromone (dimethyl
disulfide), suggesting that they could act as pheromone carriers instead of, or in
addition to, direct vomeronasal neuron receptor activators.
Cont....

• Till now only hamsters have been shown to be able to produce aphrodisin in
vaginal discharges, a lipocalin that triggers mating behavior of naive males.
• At the present time it is still not known whether aphrodisin alone is responsible
for the pheromonal activity or the presence of a low molar mass ligand is
necessary
 APOLIPOPROTEIN D (HUMAN)

• Apolipoprotein d (apod) is a member of the alpha(2mu)-microglobulin

superfamily of carrier proteins also known as lipocalins (e.g., lipocalin).
• It is a protein component of high-density lipoprotein in human plasma,
comprising about 5% of total high-density lipoprotein.
• It is a glycoprotein of estimated molecular weight 33,000 da. Apod is closely
associated with the enzyme lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase
Cont....

• In humans suggesting that axillary odors and secretions from both males and females
are a source of chemical signals containing physiologically active components
capable of altering the female menstrual cycle.
• Apod as apocrine secretion odor-binding protein-2 (asob2), 1 of 2 glycoproteins that
bind e-3-methyl-2-hexenoic acid (e-3m2h), the most abundant axillary odor
component in human males.
• The mass spectrometry was used to determine the amino acid sequence and
glycosylation pattern of asob2