Isolation of ligament protein-1 from shell ligament of the scallop Patinopecten yessoensis

Elastomeric proteins occur in the shell ligament of bivalve molluscan shellfish. A newly identified protein named ligament protein-1, with a molecular mass of approximately 12 kDa, was extracted from the shell ligament of the scallop, Patinopecten yessoensis, with 70 % formic acid, and purified by gel filtration column chromatography and reverse-phase C18 column chromatography. Although the amino acid composition of this protein differs from that of the known shell ligament protein abductin, the partial amino acid sequences are similar to those of abductin. CD spectra and FT–IR spectra analyses showed that ligament protein-1 retains its secondary structures of α-helix, β-turn, and β-sheets. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on protein purification from the shell ligament of a bivalve molluscan shell.