scholarly journals Multiple forms of acetylcholinesterase from pig brain

1973 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
pp. 655-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher H. S. McIntosh ◽  
David T. Plummer

1. A number of methods of solubilization of pig brain acetylcholinesterase (EC 3.1.1.7) were studied. The multiple enzymic forms of the resultant preparations were examined by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. 2. Butanol extraction, Nagarase treatment and ultrasonication proved unsuitable as preparatory methods, but detergent treatment (Triton X-100, Triton X-100–KCl and lysolecithin) gave good yields. 3. Separation of soluble enzyme in three systems of polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis were compared and the relative advantages are discussed. 4. By using a 6% (w/v) gel and continuous buffer system two forms of acetylcholinesterase were detected in Triton X-100-solubilized enzyme, but the incorporation of a sample and spacer gel and a discontinuous buffer system resolved this into four components. The forms of the soluble enzyme extracted by different methods differed in mobility. 5. With gradient polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis between two and six forms were detected, depending on the method used for extraction. The average molecular weights of the five forms most frequently found were 60000, 130000, 198000, 266000 and 350000. 6. Treatment of the Triton X-100-extracted enzyme with 2.5m-urea altered the pattern and evidence of dissociation was observed. 7. The results are discussed in the light of present theories on the molecular structure of acetylcholinesterase.

1980 ◽  
Vol 187 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilian M. Y. Lee ◽  
Antonieta K. Salvatore ◽  
Peter R. Flanagan ◽  
Gordon G. Forstner

Maltase/glucoamylase from the rat intestinal brush-border membrane was solubilized by homogenization of the intestinal mucosa in buffer containing 0.5% Triton X-100. After removal of the detergent with butan-1-ol, the enzyme was purified by chromatography on Sepharose 4B and DEAE-cellulose. The final specific activity was 70.3 units/mg of protein in six preparations, comparing favourably with the specific activity of 65.0 units/mg of protein of a pure papain-solubilized maltase/glucoamylase previously isolated and characterized by us [Flanagan & Forstner (1978) Biochem. J.173, 553–563]. The two enzymes were compared. Both migrated as single bands with the same mobility on sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, were eluted at the same volume from Sepharose 4B, and had the same sedimentation pattern in mannitol gradients. The amino acid composition was similar; content of total apolar residues differed by 1.0mol%. Antibodies prepared against either enzyme gave identical precipitin lines with each. Neither enzyme bound tritiated Triton X-100. The only difference noted was the tendency of the detergent-solubilized enzyme to aggregate on storage, whereas the papain-solubilized enzyme remained unchanged. Both enzymes had two N-termini, glycine and arginine. When the two enzymes were dissociated by boiling in sodium dodecyl sulphate, each exhibited the same five species on sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. Single N-termini were found in the two smaller species, 1 (glycine) and 2 (arginine), whereas larger species (3–5) had both N-terminal amino acids. Both the Triton- and papain-solubilized enzymes appear to be oligomers of species 1 and 2, indicating that the native enzyme contains two subunit types. Aggregation in aqueous solutions does not depend on a proteolytically susceptible peptide fragment at the N-terminus of either subunit.


1979 ◽  
Vol 42 (05) ◽  
pp. 1630-1633 ◽  
Author(s):  
A G Castle ◽  
N Crawford

SummaryBlood platelets contain microtubule proteins (tubulin and HMWs) which can be polymerised “in vitro” to form structures which resemble the microtubules seen in the intact platelet. Platelet tubulin is composed of two non-identical subunits a and p tubulin which have molecular weights around 55,000 but can be resolved in alkaline SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These subunits associate as dimers with sedimentation coefficients of about 5.7 S although it is not known whether the dimer protein is a homo- or hetero-dimer. The dimer tubulin binds the anti-mitotic drug colchicine and the kinetics of this binding are similar to those reported for neurotubulins. Platelet microtubules also contain two HMW proteins which appear to be essential and integral components of the fully assembled microtubule. These proteins have molecular weights greater than 200,000 daltons. Fluorescent labelled antibodies to platelet and brain tubulins stain long filamentous microtubular structures in bovine lens epithelial cells and this pattern of staining is prevented by exposing the cells to conditions known to cause depolymerisation of cell microtubules.


1986 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-22
Author(s):  
M. Kallajoki ◽  
I. Virtanen ◽  
J. Suominen

The surface membrane glycoprotein composition of human spermatozoa has been studied by introducing radioactive label into galactosyl (Gal) and N-acetylgalactosaminyl (GalNAc) residues by using the galactose oxidase/NaB3H4 method. Triton X-100 extracts and Triton X-100-resistant cytoskeletal residues were subjected to analysis by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The distribution of the radiolabel in sperm cells was studied by light-microscopic auto-radiography. The grains were evenly distributed on the cells by the labelling methods used. The Triton X-100 treatment did not affect sperm morphology at the light-microscopic level, but in transmission electron microscopy the plasma membrane covering the acrosome was removed totally, together with most of the acrosomal membranes and acrosomal contents. Plasma membrane residues were, however, always found in the postacrosomal region. Borohydride alone without oxidative pretreatment labelled two polypeptides of molecular weights (Mr) 48,000 and 43,000 in the Triton X-100-soluble fraction. When the Gal/GalNAc residues were labelled by galactose oxidase pretreatment 120,000, 105,000, 78,000 and 68,000 Mr glycoproteins were revealed. When additional neuraminidase treatment was used to remove terminal sialic acid residues, the total labelling intensity was increased two- to fivefold and additional 36,000 and 20,000 Mr glycoproteins were revealed. The Triton X-100-resistant cytoskeletal residue contained 53–75% of the total radioactivity bound in sperm cells. When these components were analysed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, all the major bands found in the Triton X-100-soluble fraction were detected and also some radioactivity was incorporated into the major bands visualized by protein staining. In the present study we describe several human sperm glycoproteins, which seem to be distributed evenly on the sperm cells. Detergent extraction, producing cytoskeletal models, appeared to leave most of the glycoproteins detectable in the extraction residues also with the apparent enrichment of a single 68,000 Mr glycoprotein.


2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (14) ◽  
pp. 2984-2995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taufika Islam Williams ◽  
Jennifer C. Combs ◽  
Anup P. Thakur ◽  
Herbert J. Strobel ◽  
Bert C. Lynn

1981 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Chaudhuri ◽  
M. Maiti

The structural polypeptides of the cholera bacteriophage [Formula: see text] have been analysed by sodium dodecyl sulphate – polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Eight different polypeptides were identified. The apparent molecular weights of the polypeptides were 143 000, 96 500, 68 000, 53 000, 37 500, 29 500, 21 000, and 13 500, respectively. The percentage of total protein corresponding to each polypeptide was estimated.


1969 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. Parish ◽  
G. L. Ada

1. Flagellin, isolated from the flagella of Salmonella adelaide, was shown by various criteria to be a pure protein. It had a molecular weight of about 40000 and contained three methionine, six tyrosine, 11 arginine and 25 lysine residues/mol., of which 11 of the lysine residues were present as ∈-N-methyl-lysine. 2. After treatment of flagellin with cyanogen bromide in formic acid, four main fragments (A, B, C and D) were obtained, with as many as six minor components that represented partial degradation products. The major fragments were estimated by amino acid analysis to have molecular weights of about 18000 for fragment A, 12000 for fragment B, 5500 for fragment C and 4500 for fragment D. Fragments A, B and D, but not fragment C, were recovered pure by gel chromatography as monitored by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. 3. A complex between fragments C and D was also isolated (mol.wt. 10000) after limited oxidation of flagellin by chloramine-t before digestion by cyanogen bromide. After oxidation essentially only two fragments were released from flagellin by cyanogen bromide: the ‘C,D’ complex and a presumed ‘AB’ fragment. 4. The sum of the amino acid analyses of fragments A and B and the ‘C,D’ complex gave residue values that agreed well with the amino acid composition of native flagellin. 5. Fragments A and D contained tyrosine, and ten of the 11 ∈-N-methyl-lysine residues of the molecule were in fragment A. Reaction with [125I]iodide at small extents of substitution showed that, in flagellin, the tyrosine residue of fragment D was more readily substituted than those of fragment A. By contrast, in polymerized flagellin, the tyrosine residues of fragment A were more readily substituted. 6. Treatment of flagellin with carboxypeptidases A and B revealed the C-terminal sequence -Leu-Leu-Leu-Arg. Arginine and leucine were released by carboxypeptidase from the ‘C,D’ complex but not from fragment D, indicating that fragment C was C-terminal. 7. On the basis of the results from amino acid analysis, carboxypeptidase digestion, N-terminal analysis, iodination studies and polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, the sequence of fragments in flagellin was considered to be B–A–D–C; in the polymer, fragment A was exposed. It is suggested that methylation of the lysine residues occurred in the organism after flagellin had polymerized.


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