Egg albumen polymorphisms in the fowl: The ovalbumin locus

Abstract

1. Ovalbumin was shown, by starch gel electrophoresis, to exist in two genetically different forms, A and B. It was suggested that these are determined by two alleles at one locus, namedOv.2. Ovalbumin of each genetic type is electrophoretically heterogeneous. Dephos-phorylation of each type with human prostatic phosphatase and calf intestinal phosphatase removed some of the heterogeneity, but some remained.3. The genetic difference was shown not to reside in the fragment released from ovalbumin by the proteolytic enzyme subtilisin.4. The genetic difference was evident in the ovalbumin present in the fluid contained in right oviduct cysts.