PmPV1

Pomacea maculata perivitellin-1 (PmPV1) is the most abundant perivitellin found in the perivitelline fluid from Pomacea maculata snail eggs. This glyco-lipo-caroteno protein is an approx. 294 kDa multimer of a combination of multiple copies of six different~30 kDa subunits.^[1] PmPV1 account >60% of the total proteins found in the Pomacea maculata eggs.^[2]

PmPV1 is an orthologous of ovorubin and scalarin, sharing most of the structural features with the former protein and cross-reacting with anti-ovorubin polyclonal antibodies.^[1][3] Like ovorubin and scalarin, PmPV1 is highly glycosylated (~13% w/w) and carries carotenoid pigments, indicating that this perivitellin would probably have the antioxidant, photoprotective, aposematic and water retention functions described for its orthologous.^[1]

PmPV1 is a kinetically stable protein that, like most other studied perivitellins from Pomacea snails, is highly stable in a wide range of pH values and withstands gastrointestinal digestion, characteristics associated with an antinutritive defense system that deters predation by lowering the nutritional value of the eggs.^[3] Remarkably, and in agreement with this antinutritive activity, PmPV1 withstands in vivo digestion, being recovered structurally unaltered from mice feces after trespassing the whole digestive system.^[3]