Bovine zona pellucida (ZP) glycoproteins from ovarian egg emerged as three bands with molecular mass of 78 kDa, 64 kDa and 21 kDa in SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions. Endo-beta-galactosidase (E beta G) digestion of the glycoproteins yielded five products with molecular mass of 76 kDa (E beta G-76), 68 kDa (E beta G-68), 63 kDa (E beta G-63), 47 kDa (E beta G-47) and 21 kDa (E beta G-21) under the same conditions. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of E beta G-76 and E beta G-21 were identical. This fact together with the results of diagonal SDS-PAGE indicated that E beta G-21 (N-terminal region) is linked to E beta G-63 (C-terminal region) through disulfide bond to form E beta G-76. Immunoblot analysis using anti-pig ZP protein antibodies revealed that bovine E beta G-76, E beta G-68 and E beta G-47 correspond to pig PZP2, PZP3 alpha and PZP3 beta glycoproteins, respectively. The E beta G-76 and E beta G-68 components were shown to be specifically cleaved during fertilization.