Cysteine Mediated Formation of N-ε-Carboxymethyllysine (CML) on Proteins

The reaction of glyoxal with nucleophilic amino acids was monitored for beta-casein as well as beta-lactoglobulin. As predicted from previous experiments with hippuryl amino acids, a measurable decrease of arginine can be found in the thiol-free beta-casein, while the lysine content remained almost unchanged. For beta-lactoglobulin, the incubation with glyoxal led to a slight decrease in the lysine content, while the arginine residues remained unmodified. Here, in accordance with nucleophilicity, it is suggested, that mainly cystein residues react with glyoxal. In solutions containing beta-casein with or without glutathione, the effects were less pronounced and regarding the lysine and arginine content, the influence of thiols could hardly be recorded on a significant level. However, comparing the CML levels in the different incubations, it becomes obvious, that glutathione is favouring CML formation in a concentration depended manner. Therefore, the use of CML as an indicator, e.g. for the Maillard reaction, must be related to the composition of the reaction system.