Modification of arginine residues in human growth hormone by 1,2-cyclohexanedione: effects on the binding capacity to lactogenic and somatogenic receptors

Arginine-Selective Chemical Labeling Approach for Identification and Enrichment of Reactive Arginine Residues in Proteins

Modification of arginine residues using dicarbonyl compounds is a common method to identify functional or reactive arginine residues in proteins. Arginine undergoes several kinds of posttranslational modifications in these functional residues. Identifying these reactive residues confidently in a protein or large-scale samples is a very challenging task. Several dicarbonyl compounds have been utilized, and the most effective ones are phenylglyoxal and cyclohexanedione. However, tracking these reactive arginine residues in a protein or large-scale protein samples using a chemical labeling approach is very challenging. Thus, the enrichment of modified peptides will provide reduced sample complexity and confident mass-spectrometric data analysis. To pinpoint arginine-labeled peptide efficiently, we developed a novel arginine-selective enrichment reagent. For the first time, we conjugated an azide tag in a widely used dicarbonyl compound cyclohexanedione. This provided us the ability to enrich modified peptides using a bio-orthogonal click chemistry and the biotin-avidin affinity chromatography. We evaluated the reagent in several standard peptides and proteins. Three standard peptides, bradykinin, substance P, and neurotensin, were labeled with this cyclohexanedione-azide reagent. Click labeling of modified peptides was tested by spiking the peptides in a myoglobin protein digest. A protein, RNase A, was also labeled with the reagent, and after click chemistry and biotin-avidin affinity chromatography, we identified two selective arginine residues. We believe this strategy will be an efficient way for identifying functional and reactive arginine residues in a protein or protein mixtures.

Modification of arginine residues in ovine prolactin by 1,2-cyclohexanedione. Effect on binding capacity to lactogenic receptors

The reactivity of arginine residues in ovine prolactin was studied by reaction with 1,2-cyclohexanedione. Kinetic analysis of the data showed a good fit with two simultaneous pseudo-first-order equations with apparent velocity constants of 0.28 and 1.2 x 10(-2) min-1, corresponding to 1.8 'fast' and 8.7 'slow' residues, respectively. Modification led to a decrease in binding capacity to lactogenic rat liver receptors, and apparently the modification of the two 'fast' reacting arginine residues is responsible for the rapid loss of this capacity. The presence of a non-reacting arginine has been described in human and bovine growth hormones, and it is located near the carboxy-terminus. This lack of reactivity is probably due to the formation of a salt bridge, since the arginine residue becomes susceptible to modification once the peptide is separated from the rest of the molecule. This salt bridge is absent in ovine prolactin, since the homologous arginine residue is reactive with cyclohexanedione. This result suggests that there could be a difference between the three-dimensional structure of ovine prolactin and of the growth hormones, at least near the carboxy-terminal region of the molecule.