Plasma desorption mapping of the tryptic digest of 23-kDa recombinant human growth hormone

Localization of an O-glycosylated site in the recombinant barley alpha-amylase 1 produced in yeast and correction of the amino acid sequence using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry of peptide mixtures

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) of peptide mixtures was used to characterize recombinant barley alpha-amylase 1, produced in yeast. Three peptide mixtures were generated by cleavage with CNBr, digestion with endoproteinase Lys-C and Asp-N, respectively, and analyzed directly by MALDI-MS. Based on the three mass spectrometric peptide maps, an error in the sequence deduced from cDNA, resulting in a mass difference of 28 Da, was located to a sequence stretch of 5 amino acid residues; furthermore, a dihexose substituent was identified on Thr410. Subsequent Edman degradation of two selected peptides isolated from the endoproteinase Lys-C digest corrected the sequence to be Val instead of Ala in position 284 and confirmed the O-glycosylation. These results demonstrate that the direct peptide mixture analysis by MALDI-MS is a rapid and sensitive method for protein characterization and provides valuable information before further characterization.

Separation, purification, and sequence identification of TGF-beta 1 and TGF-beta 2 from bovine milk

Cox and Bürk (Eur. J. Biochem., 1991) reported the partial characterization of Milk Growth Factor (MGF) which stimulated the migration of fibroblasts. We have fractionated the partially purified sample by RP-HPLC and obtained the separation of two peaks of activity. The two active components were isolated as pure MGF-a and MGF-b by RP-HPLC and preparative SDS-PAGE. The purified MGF-a, consisting of a single band by gel electrophoresis and a single peak on an HPLC reversed-phase C-4 column, has the same specific activity as TGF-beta 2 in the fibroblast migration assay. MGF-a was digested by endoprotease Asp-N and the cleaved peptides were analyzed by Edman degradation and plasma desorption mass spectrometry (PDMS). The whole sequence of MGF-a determined by automated sequenator and PDMS of S-pyridylethylated protein and selected fragments was found to be identical to that of TGF-beta 2. MGF-b protein mixture separated by SDS-PAGE was electrophoretically transferred onto a Biometra Glassybond membrane, and the blotted MGF-b protein was directly sequenced on an automated sequenator. The identified 29 amino acids sequence of MGF-b was identical to the amino-terminal sequence of TGF-beta 1. Our study demonstrates that MGF is composed of both TGF-beta 1 and TGF-beta 2. TGF-beta 2 (85%) is the predominant form.

Primary structure of nuclease P1 from Penicillium citrinum

The primary structure of nuclease P1, which cleaves both RNA and single-stranded DNA, from Penicillium citrinum was elucidated. The complete amino acid sequence consisting of 270 residues was determined by analysis of peptides obtained by digestion with Achromobacter protease I of the reduced and S-aminoethylated protein and by digestion with Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease of the reduced and S-carboxymethylated protein. Four half-cystine residues were assigned to Cys72-Cys217 and Cys80-Cys85. N-Glycosylated asparagine residues were identified at positions 92, 138, 184 and 197. Fast-atom-bombardment and laser-ionization MS were successfully used to confirm the determined amino acid sequences of peptides and to estimate the molecular mass of this glycoprotein having heterogenous sugar moieties, respectively. Comparison of the amino acid sequence of nuclease P1 with other nucleases revealed that the protein has a high degree of sequence identity (50%) with nuclease S1 from Aspergillus oryzae. The His-Phe-Xaa-Asp-Ala sequence (positions 60-64) is similar to the sequence (His-Phe-Asp-Ala) involving the active-site His119 of bovine pancreatic RNase A, and the Pro-Leu-His sequence (positions 124-126) is identical with the sequence involving the active-site His134 of porcine pancreatic DNase I.