foods Review The Role of Ovotransferrin in Egg-White Antimicrobial Activity: A Review Julie Legros 1,2 , Sophie Jan 1 , Sylvie Bonnassie 3, Michel Gautier 1, Thomas Croguennec 1 , Stéphane Pezennec 1 , Marie-Françoise Cochet 1 , Françoise Nau 1 , Simon C. Andrews 2 and Florence Baron 1,* 1 STLO, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35042 Rennes, France;
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[email protected] Abstract: Eggs are a whole food which affordably support human nutritional requirements world- wide. Eggs strongly resist bacterial infection due to an arsenal of defensive systems, many of which reside in the egg white. However, despite improved control of egg production and distribution, eggs remain a vehicle for foodborne transmission of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis, which continues to represent a major public health challenge. It is generally accepted that iron deficiency, Citation: Legros, J.; Jan, S.; mediated by the iron-chelating properties of the egg-white protein ovotransferrin, has a key role Bonnassie, S.; Gautier, M.; in inhibiting infection of eggs by Salmonella. Ovotransferrin has an additional antibacterial activity Croguennec, T.; Pezennec, S.; Cochet, beyond iron-chelation, which appears to depend on direct interaction with the bacterial cell surface, M.-F.; Nau, F.; Andrews, S.C.; Baron, resulting in membrane perturbation.