Some Characteristics of the Ovomucin Gel of Egg White

INTRODUCTION WHILE numerous experiments of an empirical nature have been made on thick egg white in an attempt to produce and retain as large an amount of thick white in the egg as possible, few attempts have been made to determine the underlying chemical reactions that the white undergoes while in the egg. The physical and chemical properties of egg white as a whole depend, to a great extent, upon the properties of each of the five or more well recognized component proteins with their buffer solution. It has been recognized for some time that one of the chief differences between thick and thin white is in the ovomucin content of the thick white (McNally, 1933). The realization of the fact that the thick white is a mucin in a gel form has come more slowly. While the other proteins of the egg white may form gels under certain chemical . . .