Homochiral asymmetric triacylglycerol isomers in egg yolk

Abstract

The composition of triacylglycerol (TAG) positional isomer (-PI) and enantiomer (-E) in immature chicken egg yolk, mature chicken yolk, and chicken meat was examined. POO (consisting of one palmitic acid (P) and two oleic acids (Os)), PPO (consisting of two Ps and one O), and PPL (consisting of two Ps and one linoleic acid (L)) were treated as representative TAG molecular species in all the analytical samples because P, O, and L were the major fatty acids comprising egg and chicken meat. sn-POO (binding P at sn-1 position) was predominant in egg yolks, while sn-OOP and sn-OPO were present in chicken meat. This difference was ascribed to the different roles of these isomers as nutrients, because TAG in egg yolk is important for new born organisms and TAG in chicken meat is used for fat accumulation. The compositions of the TAG isomers in PPO and PPL in egg yolk were similar, and O and L did not bind at the sn-1 position. In contrast, all the isomers of PPO and PPL were found in chicken meat. These results imply that the TAG structure could be modified so that the nutrient requirement is fulfilled in egg yolk and chicken meat.