im2manly said:
sorry for probably asking a very extremly unbelivable idiotic degrading newbie question but.....what is cassein and what is its purpose?
iTS A GOOD QUESTION. Basically slow digesting protein good for breakfast and night snacks. Great for night because it will slowly digest overnight making sleep anabolic
Caseins
The casein content of milk represents about 80% of milk proteins. The principal casein fractions are alpha(s1) and alpha(s2)-caseins, ß -casein, and kappa-casein. The distinguishing property of all caseins is their low solubility at pH 4.6. The common compositional factor is that caseins are conjugated proteins, most with phosphate group(s) esterified to serine residues. These phosphate groups are important to the structure of the casein micelle. Calcium binding by the individual caseins is proportional to the phosphate content.
The conformation of caseins is much like that of denatured globular proteins. The high number of proline residues in caseins causes particular bending of the protein chain and inhibits the formation of close-packed, ordered secondary structures. Caseins contain no disulfide bonds. As well, the lack of tertiary structure accounts for the stability of caseins against heat denaturation because there is very little structure to unfold. Without a tertiary structure there is considerable exposure of hydrophobic residues. This results in strong association reactions of the caseins and renders them insoluble in water.
Within the group of caseins, there are several distinguishing features based on their charge distribution and sensitivity to calcium precipitation:
alpha(s1)-casein: (molecular weight 23,000; 199 residues, 17 proline residues)
Two hydrophobic regions, containing all the proline residues, separated by a polar region, which contains all but one of eight phosphate groups. It can be precipitated at very low levels of calcium.
alpha(s2)-casein: (molecular weight 25,000; 207 residues, 10 prolines)
Concentrated negative charges near N-terminus and positive charges near C-terminus. It can also be precipitated at very low levels of calcium.
ß -casein: (molecular weight 24,000; 209 residues, 35 prolines)
Highly charged N-terminal region and a hydrophobic C-terminal region. Very amphiphilic protein acts like a detergent molecule. Self association is temperature dependant; will form a large polymer at 20° C but not at 4° C. Less sensitive to calcium precipitation.
kappa-casein: (molecular weight 19,000; 169 residues, 20 prolines)
Very resistant to calcium precipitation, stabilizing other caseins. Rennet cleavage at the Phe105-Met106 bond eliminates the stabilizing ability, leaving a hydrophobic portion, para-kappa-casein, and a hydrophilic portion called kappa-casein glycomacropeptide (GMP), or more accurately, caseinomacropeptide (CMP).