Spontaneous interaction of lactoferrin with casein micelles or individual caseins

The spontaneous self-assembly of biological macromolecules is of great scientific interest and of significant importance in biological as well as industrial processes. Interestingly, proteins have the ability to self-associate with other macromolecules including polysaccharides and other proteins. Food proteins such as those from milk, egg and plant sources have shown the ability to spontaneously self-associate into supra-molecular structures, and these associations have the potential to offer unique functionalities in food and technical applications. This review summarises the research our group has conducted on the spontaneous self-association of lactoferrin, a large milk-derived basic protein, with the casein micelles in milk, and with individual isolated casein proteins.