Avidin - Discovery of Avidin

Discovery of Avidin

Avidin was first discovered by Esmond Emerson Snell (1914–2003). The route to discovery began with the observation that chicks on a diet of raw egg-white were deficient in biotin, despite availability of the vitamin in their diet. It was concluded that a component of the egg-white was sequestering biotin which Snell verified in vitro using a yeast assay. Snell later isolated the component of egg white responsible for biotin binding, and, in collaboration with Paul Gyorgy, confirmed that the isolated egg protein was the cause of biotin deficiency or “egg white injury”. At the time the protein had been tentatively named avidalbumin (literally, hungry albumin) by the involved researchers at the University of Texas. The name of the protein was later revised to "avidin" based on its affinity for biotin (avid + biotin).