Ovoglycoprotein from chicken egg whites (OGCHI) has been used as a chiral selector to separate drug enantiomers. However, neither the amino acid sequence of OGCHI nor the responsible part for the chiral recognition (protein domain or sugar moiety) has yet to be determined. First, we isolated a cDNA clone encoding OGCHI, and clarified the amino acid sequence of OGCHI, which consists of 203 amino acids including a predictable signal peptide of 20 amino acids. The mature OGCHI shows 31-32% identities to rabbit and human alpha(1)-acid glycoproteins (alpha(1)-AGPs). Thus, OGCHI should be the chicken alpha(1)-AGR Second, the recombinant chicken alpha(1)-AGP was prepared by the Escherichia coli expression system, and its chiral recognition ability was confirmed by capillary electrophoresis. Since proteins expressed in E coli are not modified by any sugar moieties, this result shows that the protein domain of the chicken alpha(1)-AGP is responsible for the chiral recognition. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.