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This article is the sixth and last of a series devoted to the primary structure of bovine β-casein [1–5]. In the preceding paper, we presented a partial sequence of this protein in which 156 out of the 209 amino-acid residues were exactly positioned [5]. Only a few data were given on the tryptic peptides T2 and T3 [1] which corresponded to the unknown part of the molecule. In the present communication, we establish the amino-acid sequence of these 2 peptides, and discuss the salient features of the β-casein molecule. Bovine β-casein A2 is a phosphoprotein constituted of a single polypeptide chain containing 209 amino-acid residues. Among them are five phosphoseryl residues. From sequence data, it can be written: Asp4, Asn5, Thr9, Ser11, SerP5, Glu17, Gln22, Pro35, Gly5, Ala5, Val19, Met6, Ile10, Leu22, Tyr4, Phe9, Trp, Lys11, His5, Arg4. Its exact molecular weight is 23982, a little higher than that of αs1-casein, which is 23616 [6]. The total number of 27 amide groups (Asn + Gln) agrees well with previous data obtained by Pion et al. [7] and Peterson et al. [8]. The average hydrophobicity, calculated according to Bigelow [9], is 1330 and it places β-casein among the most hydrophobic proteins. The sequence obtained emphasizes the uneven charge distribution along the peptide chain. A high negative net charge is located in the first 50 residues. The high proline residue content (16.7%) and the rather uniform repartition of this residue exclude the possibility of a high α-helix content. Furthermore, the complete absence of segments containing more than 2 adjacent prolyl residues seems to preclude the possibility of poly-L-proline structure that was expected from optical-rotatory-dispersion studies [10]. An interesting extension of the present work is the discovery by Gordon et al [11] that γ-, TS-, R- and S-caseins are fragments of β-casein likely originating from tryptic-like cleavages of the peptide chain next to the carbonyl groups of some lysyl residues. The γ-, TS. A2- and S-, TS. B- and R-caseins respectively represent residues 29 to 209, 106 to 209 and 108 to 209. These results explain the occurrence of only one phosphorus atom in the γ-caseins, the absence of phosphorus in the TS-, R- and S-caseins [12]. Localization of the substitutions which differentiate the known variants of bovine β-casein also explains the relationship between β-, γ-, R-, S- and TS-caseins [12,13]. The NH2-terminal tryptic phosphopeptide, previously analyzed by Peterson et al. [14], has been sequenced independently by Manson and Annan [15]. Their results are identical to those reported in a preceding paper [4]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous reports [1-5], we have described some of the features of the primary structure of bovine αs1-casein. In the present work, the complete amino acid sequence has been established and the salient features of this phosphoprotein have been discussed. In the polyeptide chain, the region containing the phosphopeptides Tm1 (T1-T2), Tm1T2 and Tm1T1 [1,4,5], had only been slightly studied as yet. Because of the difficulties encountered in the breakdown of these phosphopeptides, hydrolysis with endopeptidases and exopeptidases were performed on both native and dephosphorylated peptides. It was confirmed that peptide Tm1T2 contains three hydroxy-amino acids (2 Ser, 1 Thr), but, instead of three [1], two phosphorus atoms were found with purified preparations. Partial acid hydrolysis and dephosphorylation using an orthophosphoric-monoester phosphohydrolase indicate that the two seryl residues m this peptide are O-phosphorylated. The remaining gap in the sequence of the central part of peptide Tm1T2 was bridged by studying two fragments obtained by papain digestion of the dephosphorylated preparation. Instead of four serines, postulated earlier from the results of the amino-acid composition of peptide Tm1T1 [1], five were shown to be present after detailed analysis of the fragments. Since the five phosphate groups could be ready removed by an orthophosphoric-monoester phosphohydrolase, the five seryl residues could be O-phosphorylated. The fragments obtained after hydrolysis with thermolysin of both native and dephosphorylated peptide Tra1T1 were further degraded using classical methods for the determination of the amino acid sequence. In the light of all the results obtained on this phosphoprotein (αs1-casein B), the total number of amino acid residues has been corrected to 199, instead of 198, as reported previously [1-5], and the molecular weight has been calculated to be 23616. The following amino-acid composition; Asp7, Asn8, Thr5, Ser8, SerP8, Glu25, Gln14, Pro17, Gly9, Ala9, Val11, Met5, Ile11, Leu17, Tyr10, Phe8, Lys14, His5, Trp2, Arg6, indicates that there is a higher number of acidic than basic residues in this protein. On the basis of the intrinsic dissociation constants of titratable groups in proteins [6], the negative net charge of the molecule was estimated to be 22 at pH 6.5 and 28 at pH 8.6. Since Bigelow's parameter for thc average hydrophobicity [7] of this protein is 1170, it could be considered to be a hydrophobic protein The high amount (8.5%) and uniform distribution of prolyl residues indicate that this protein has limited structuralcoiling possibilities. The polypeptide chain contains three hydrophobic regions, viz. 1-44, 90-113 and 132-199. The first two are characterized by the fact that basic residues predominate over acidic residues. The third region, where most of the aromatic residues are located, contains very few basic residues and is therefore of more acidic character. Two regions, 45-89 and 114-131, are hydrophilic. The former contains more than half of the total acidic residues, in particular seven of the total eight phosphoseryl residues. Another remarkable feature is the concentration of amino acids with carboxylic side chains, particularly glutamic acid, in the vicinity of two clusters of phosphoseryl residues. It may be noticed that the phosphoseryl residues m αs1-casein are arranged m a manner similar to those in β-casein [8]. In particular, in αs1-casein, the 62-70 region containing four phosphoseryl residues, is similar to the 13-21 region in β-casein [8]. It is interesting to point out that ail but one of the phosphoseryl residues always occur m position n with relation to a glutamyl or a phosphoseryl residue, which is in position n + 2. From this, it would appear that there is an enzymatic phosphorylation of the polypeptide chum (carried out by a phosphoryl kinase which may require a negative charge in the phosphorylation site) rather than a direct incorporation of phosphoserine into the polypeptide chain during protein synthesis. The location of the amino-acid substitutions that characterize the αs1-Casein D and the β-casein C variants has provided evidence for an enzymatic phosphorylation of casein [9]. The problem of the phosphorylated sites in αs1- and β-caseins will be discussed in a forthcoming paper. The repeating amino-acid sequences located in the two regions of αs1-casein, viz. 70-84 and 110-125, are also of interest. The primary structure of αs1-casein given here is that of the genetic variant B. The three other variants A, C and D have also been studied. The C and D variants differ from the B variant by the substitutions of Gly/Glu in position 192 [10] and ThrP/Ala in position 53 [9], respectively. The A variant is characterized by a deletion of thirteen amino-acid residues from position 14 to position 26 in the hydrophobic NH2-terminal part of the polypeptide chain [11]. Because of this deletion, there m an important change in the physico-chemical properties of αs1-casein [12, 13]. Some important features of the amino-acid-sequence determination should be noted. Firstly, the great value of maleic anhydride as a reversible-blocking reagent for amino groups of proteins [14], and the usefulness of thermolysin as a specific enzyme for degrading polypeptides [15]. Secondly, the difficulties encountered during the study of the phosphopeptides: these peptides were difficult to purify since they have similar anionic characters and only react slightly with ninhydrin during paper revelation; other difficulties have been the high destruction of phosphoserine during hydrolysis with HCl 5.7 N, the poor yield in the substractive Edman degradation when the NH2-terminal residue is a phosphoserine, and the failure of endopeptidases and exopeptidases to split off peptide bonds that are close to phosphate groups. Fortunately, alkaline phosphatase has proved to be a useful tool for removing phosphate groups, thus avoiding most of these difficulties. Since the amino-acid sequence of αs1-casein is now known, the degradation of this protein by coagulating and other proteolytic enzymes during cheese ripening may be studied. In particular, bitter peptides originating from αs1-casein may be located. As we have already briefly noted [4], it is obvious that one of the three bitter peptides isolated by Matoba et al. [16] from a tryptic hydrolysate of whole casein, was the segment 23-34 of the polypeptide chain of αs1-casein. In addition, the knowledge of the primary structure will be of help in understanding many aspects of the relations between structure and physical properties in this phosphoprotein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the fifth of a series devoted to the primary structure of the bovine β-casein A². The first two communications dealt with the isolation, analysis and positioning in the peptide chain of the tryptic and “CNBr” peptides [1,2]. The last two described the sequence of 65 residues from the carboxyl-terminus and of 32 residues from the amino-terminus [3,4]. We report here a partial sequence which includes 156 residues (out of the 209 residues of the β-casein A²) exactly positioned in the peptide chain. Two segments including 53 residues (from position 36 to 68 and from 73 to 92) remain to be analyze. In addition to the tryptic and “CNBr” peptides originating from β-casein A², two peptides issued from a tryptic digest of β-casein B were used as starting material. The position of the substitution His→Gln which differentiates the β-casein A² from the β-casein A³, already given in a preliminary communication [5], is indicated, as it is for the substitution Ser→Arg which represents one of the two differences occurring between the β-casein A² and the β-casein B. Four of the five phosphorus atoms of the β-casein A² have been previously located in the NH2-terminal tryptic peptide [4]. The fifth has been located at position 35. All the phosphorus atoms of the β-casein A² occur as phosphoserine. The complete structure of the β-casein A² will be given and discussed in the next and last paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial lima bean inhibitor was fractionated into four apparently homogeneous components as previously described by Jones, Moore and Stein in 1963. Reduced and alkylated component IV was hydrolyzed with trypsin and the resulting peptides were separated by ion exchange chromatography on Dowex 50 X2 or gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-6. Where necessary, further purification of the peptides was carried out by paper chromatography, paper electrophoresis or a combination of both. Seven peptides were obtained in pure form and their compositions are reported here. The amino acid sequence of six of these peptides was determined, using classical methods. When allowance is made for the occurrence of two homologous peptides, presumably resulting from heterogeneity m the original protein preparation, the tryptic peptides isolated, account for the complete composition of the protein. In an attempt to obtain overlapping sequences the tryptic digest was also performed on the reduced, alkylated and guanidinated protein. Five tryptic peptides, including one containing homoarginine as the carboxy-terminal residue, were isolated in pure form from the digest; their amino acid compositions are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using ion exchange chromatography, gel filtration and paper electrophoresis eight peptides were isolated in pure form from a chymotryptic digest of lima bean inhibitor component IV. They account for 76 out of the 84 residues of the protein. Complete or partial sequences of these peptides were determined using classical methods. This information, together with information obtained on the tryptic peptides and reported in the preceding paper allowed the deduction of the complete amino acid sequence of lima bean inhibitor IV. The resets show that the original protein preparation was heterogenous as reflected by the occurrence of conservative substitutions at positions 26, 37 and 39. A detailed examination of the sequence revealed the presence of a repetitive sequence with residues 50 through 61 clearly homologous to residues 23 through 34. Of added interest is the fact that the anti-chymotrypsin site of lima bean inhibitor, as recently determined by Krahn and Stevens, was found to be located in one of the homologous regions. This has led us to speculate that the anti-trypsin site could be located m the other homologous region and that this double-headed inhibitor, with independent sites for trypsin and chymotrypsin, may have evolved by gene duplication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purification and the amino acid sequence of the peptide containing the essential sulphydryl group of arginine kinase from Homarus vulgaris muscle is described. The fractionation of the tryptic digest of arginine kinase labelled with N-[1-14C]ethylmaleimide has been caused out using gel filtration, ion-exchange chromatography and paper chromatography. The composition of the radioactive peptide, isolated from the digest, is reported together with its amino acid sequence. A structural comparison is made between the peptide of arginine kinase and the corresponding active-cysteine containing peptide isolated from rabbit muscle creatine kinase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The previous paper in this series described the isolation of tryptic-chymotryptic and peptic flavin peptides from Chromatium cytochrome c552 in homogeneous form and presented evidence that the FAD component is covalently linked to a cysteinyl residue via a hemiacetal linkage to the 8α position of the isoalloxazine ring. The amino acid sequence of the peptic and tryptic-chymotryptic flavin peptides were found to be Tyr-Thr-Cys(FAD)-Tyr and Thr-Cys(FAD)-Tyr. respectively. However, the presence of the NH2-tyrosyl residue in the former, imparts markedly greater stability to the cysteinyl flavin linkage, and even results in essentially quenched fluorescence of the flavin after performic acid oxidation of the sulfur moiety. Osidatlon at 40°C, which destroys tyrosine, results in the same level of fluorescence as found when the tryptic-chymotryptic peptide is oxidized at 0 C. Removal of this tyrosyl residue from the peptic peptide, oxidized at 0°C, by aminopeptidase M also leads to an increase in fluorescence. Evidence for a tyrosyl-flavin interaction has been further obtained from CD spectra. The peptic peptide has a broad, positive Cotton effect with a maximum at 484 to 490 nm, which is enhanced after treatment with pyrophosphatase and phosphatase and negative bands at 305 and 375 nm. The tryptic-chymotryptic peptide, on the other hand. has a positive band at 340 nm, as m FAD. but only a small negative band at 380 nm. Thus the tyrosyl-flavin interaction appears to be responsible for the stabilization of the thiohemiacetal bond in the peptide and perhaps also in the protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A purified glycoprotein with blood-group-A specificity, was digested with insoluble pronase to give a serologically active product enriched in peptide-bonded serine and threonine residues; this was degraded with 0.25 M sulphuric in glacial acetic acid for 24 h. The resultant N-acetylgalactosaminyl-peptide were hydrolysed with 0.2 M hydrocholoric acid for 24 h at 110 °C. fractionation of the products on Sephadex G-10, followed by preparative separation on amino-acid analyzer and paper electrophoresis at pH 1.9 yielded the following homogeneous oligopeptides; one tripeptide with the N-terminal sequence Thr-Thr-Ser, three tetrapeptides with the sequences, Thr-Ser-Thr-Ser, Thr-Pro-Thr-Ser and Pro-Thr-Thr-Ser, one pentapeptide with the sequence Thr-Pro-Thr-Ser, one hexapeptide with the sequence Pro-Thr-Thr-Thr-Pro-Ser and one heptapeptide with the sequence Ala-Pro-Thr-Thr-Ser-Gly-Ser. Galactosamine was present in several of these fragments and the hexapeptide and heptapeptide both contained sufficient of this sugar for all the serine and threonine residues to be glycosylated. The following five tetrapeptides sequences were deduced from mixtures of two peptides which differed by the amino-acid substituent at only one position in the chain; Pro-Thr-Ala-ser, Thr-Thr Pro-Ser, thr-Thr-Ala-Ser, Ser-Pro-Thr-Ser, and Ser-Ala-Thr-Ser. A tripeptide mixture which differed only in the nature of the third amino acid yielded the following three tripeptide sequences: Pro-Thr-Ser, Pro-thr-Ala. These peptides do not indicate a clearly defined amino-acid sequence surrounding the glycosylated hydroxy amino acids but establish that in the human blood-group-specific glycoproteins there is close packing of the threonine in the region of the peptide moiety carrying the carbohydrate chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary structure of sheep para-ℵA-casein, the N-terminal portion of ℵ-casein, was established. The reduced alkylated protein was subjected to digestion with trypsin. The resulting soluble peptides were purified by a combination of Dowex I X 2 chromatography and electrophoresis and chromatography on paper; the core peptides were solubilized in 50 % formic acid and filtered on Sephadex G-50. The amino-acid sequence of these peptides was determined chiefly with a Sequencer. Alignment of thc tryptic peptides into a single chain containing 105 amino acids was determined, from basic overlap peptides (tryptic core peptides with several basic amino acids; chymotryptic peptides). Some comparisons were achieved with cow para-ℵA-casein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Adenylate kinase (ATP: AMP phosphotransferase) has been purified 490-fold from porcine muscle with a final yield of 60 mg/kg muscle. 2. The amino-acid composition is Asp11 Asn2, Thr14, Ser11, Glu19,, Gln6, Pro6, Gly19>, Ala6, Cyst2, Val17, Met6, Ile9, Leu18, Tyr7, Phe5, Lys21, His2, Arrg11. 3. The protein molecules a single polypeptide chain of 194 amino-acid residues with an acetylmethionine at the N-terminus and a lysine residue at the C-terminus. 4. Cyanogen bromide cleavage of carboxymethylated adenylate kinase yielded six fragments which were further degraded by using trypsin, chymotrypsin, thermolysin, subtilisin or α-protease. Sequence data on the resulting peptides are summarized in the present report, full details are given in a supplementary paper which has been deposited at CNRS from where copies can be obtained. 5. The primary structure of porcine adenylate kinase was given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using automated stepwise Edman degradation of suitable overlapping peptides, the complete amino acid sequence of the 268 residue peptida α1-CB7 from calf skin collagen was determined. The preparation and ordering of the chymotryptic, tryptic and thermolytic peptides is described in the preceding paper. As shown previously for other peptides from the helical region of collagen, glycine appears in every third position and proline is present in high amount. Hydroxylation of proline to 4-hydroxyproline and lysine to hydroxylysine only occurred in the Y position of the tripeptide unit Gly-X-Y. Non-random distribution of other amino acids between the X and Y positions was also observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The globin of sheep heart myoglobin was first cleaved by cyanogen bromide and the resulting fragments were fractionated by gel filtration and preparative paper electrochromatography; each fragment was submitted to endopeptidase digestion and the complete amino acid sequence has been determined. The intact globin and the median cyanogen bromide peptide were analysed by the protein sequanator (Edman). This analysis confirmed the sequence of the first 46 N- terminal residues of the intact globin and established the sequence of the first 39 N-terminal residues of the median cyanogen bromide peptide. Between sheep and beef myoglobin six differences over 153 residues can be noticed; among the six amino acid replacements, two correspond to the exchange of two bases and four to the exchange of one base in the coding triplets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

α-Lactalbumin was isolated from human milk in a yield of 1.8 mg/ml of milk. The purification procedure involved ammonium sulphate fractionation (30% to 80% saturation) and pH-4.0 precipitation, followed by gel filtration with Sephadex G-100. A final purification stage using DEAE-cellulose was necessary in some preparations. Peptides derived from the reduced, S-aminoethylated protein by treatment with cyanogen bromide and digestion of these CNBr fragments with trypain, chymotrypsin or thermolysin, were purified by gel filtration, ion exchange chromatography and high-voltage paper electrophoresis. From the sequences of these peptides it has proved possible to deduce unambiguously the complete primary structure of the protein. Comparison with bovine α-laotaIbumin shows an identity in 72% of the residues with a further 6% being chemically similar amino acids. The corresponding figures for the human α-Iactalbumin/human lysozyme comparison, are 39% and 12%, respectively. The significance of some of the amino acid replacements is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The porcine anti-dinitrophenyl antibody was subjected to affinity labeling by m-nitrobenzenediazonium fluoroborate. From the S-sulfo derivative of the labeled antibody light (λ and ...) and heavy chains were isolated. It was found by spectral analysis of the polypeptide chains that the m-nitrobenzenediazonium reagent labeled tyrosine residues. In the light chains 10% molecules, in the heavy chains 21% molecules were labeled. Tryptic digest of labeled λ-chains was resolved by gel chromatography. The label was found to be distributed in two peasks at a ratio of 7: 3. From the labeled peptides of the tryptic digest shorter peptides were prepared by hydrolysis with subtilisin and purified by gel chromatography, paper chromatography and affinity chromato- labeled se peptides with known sections of the amino acid sequence of the λ-chains of porcine nonspecific immunoglobulin showed that the main portion of the label is attached to the tyrosine in position 33, s lesser portion to the tyrosine in position 93. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]