Composition and structure of micellar calcium phosphate

Abstract

Summary Micellar calcium phosphate has the chemical composition and physicochemical properties that are consistent with it being a complex of the phosphate centres of casein with an acidic amorphous calcium phosphate. Similar acidic amorphous calcium phosphates have been prepared in the laboratory and for these, as well as for micellar calcium phosphate, the most appropriate crystalline model compound from which the short-range structure may be derived is brushite, CaHPO 4 .2H 2 O. The predicted secondary structures around sites of phosphorylation in the Ca 2+ -sensitive caseins often comprise an α-hclix-loop-α-helix motif with the sites of phosphorylation in the loop region. This motif may be important in linking the colloidal calcium phosphate with casein in native casein micelles.