Histone H1 heterogeneity in the midge, Chironomus thummi. Structural comparison of the H1 variants in an organism where their intrachromosomal localization is possible

1. Seven subfractions of histone H1 have been isolated and purified from larvae of Chironomus thummi (Diptera). They have been denominated I-1, II-1, II-2, II-3, III-1, III-2, and III-3, according to the order of migration in two steps of preparative electrophoresis. 2. The amino acid compositions are similar to those of other H1 histones. Subfractions I-1 and II-1 were found to contain one methionine and two tyrosine residues, II-2 contained two methionine and three tyrosine residues, and III-1 one methionine and three tyrosine residues. The other subfractions contained one or two methionine and two or three tyrosine residues. For subfractions I-1 and II-1 a chain length of about 252 amino acids was estimated. 3. Peptide pattern analyses after chemical cleavage at the methionine and tyrosine residues, and enzymatic cleavage with thrombin and chymotrypsin, respectively, showed that all subfractions have different individual primary structures. A comparison of peptide sizes and of the positions in the peptide patterns of epitopes recognized by monoclonal antibodies was made to check whether some of the subfractions could arise by proteolytic degradation of others. This possibility can be excluded for five of the subfractions and is very improbable for the two others. Treatment of C. thummi H1 with alkaline phosphatase did not change the pattern of subfractions, while the phosphorylated subfraction of histone H2A disappeared after this treatment. Most and very probably all subfractions are thus H1 sequence variants. 4. Inbred strains and individual larvae of C. thummi were found to comprise all seven variants. The H1 heterogeneity can therefore not be due to allelic polymorphism. Salivary gland nuclei were found to contain variant I-1 and at least some of the other variants. 5. H1 from Drosophila melanogaster and from calf thymus were used as reference molecules in all cleavage experiments and yielded the peptide patterns expected from the sequence. The comparison discriminates the group of C. thummi H1 histones clearly from Drosophila and calf thymus H1. Limited trypsin digestion yielded a protected peptide of uniform size in six of the seven variants which was considerably smaller than the protected central domain of calf thymus H1. 6. Two other species of Chironomidae, C. pallidivittatus and Glyptotendipes barbipes were found to contain five and three H1 subfractions, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Primary structure of tyrosine-containing histone Fi peptide by means of dansyl ultramicromethod]

A method of ultramicroanalysis of dansyl-aminoacids is worked out and used for studying the primary structure of tirosin-containing F1 histone peptide isolated from calf thymus nitriated unfractionated F1 histone. The peptide is shown to be common for all the histone subfractions. The analysis of amino acid composition and C-terminal sequency using carboxypeptidase Y has shown that the peptide structure is identical to the amino acid sequence of the respective peptide from the subfraction 3 of rabbit thymus F1 histone, in the latter glycine being substituted with alanine.     

Site specificity of histone H4 methylation by wheat germ protein-arginine N-methyltransferase

CNBr treatment of calf thymus [methyl-14C]histone H4, methylated in vitro with S-adenosyl-L-[methyl-14C]methionine by a highly histone-specific wheat germ protein methylase I (S-adenosyl-L-methionine:protein-L-arginine N-methyltransferase, EC 2.1.1.23), produced two peptide fragments corresponding to residues 1-83 and 84-102, with the former being radioactive. Two-dimensional peptide mapping of the chymotryptic and tryptic digest of [methyl-14C]histone H4 and analysis of the chymotryptic digest on HPLC have shown that only a single peptide is radiolabeled. In order to define the exact site of methylation (arginine residue), the radioactive peptide from the chymotryptic digest of [methyl-14C]histone H4 was further purified on HPLC by linear and then isocratic elution. The purified chymotryptic peptide was then digested with trypsin and purified on HPLC, and its amino acid composition was determined on HPLC. These results indicate that the peptide corresponding to residues 24-35 of histone H4 is radiolabeled. Since this peptide contains a single arginine residue at position 35, we have concluded that the enzyme is specific not only to the protein substrate but also to the methylation site.     

Cloning and sequence analysis of a rat liver cDNA encoding acyl-peptide hydrolase

Acyl-peptide hydrolase catalyzes the removal of an N alpha-acetylated amino acid residue from an N alpha-acetylated peptide. Two overlapping degenerate oligonucleotide probes based on the sequence of a CNBr tryptic peptide, derived from purified rat acyl-peptide hydrolase, were synthesized and used to screen a rat liver lambda gt11 cDNA library. A 2.5-kilobase cDNA was cloned and sequenced. This clone contained 2364 base pairs of rat acyl-peptide hydrolase sequence but lacked a translational initiation codon. Using a 220-base pair probe derived from near the 5'-end of this almost full-length cDNA to rescreen the library, full-length clones were isolated, which contained an in-frame ATG codon at nucleotides 6-8 and encoded the NH2-terminal sequence, Met-Glu-Arg-Gln.... The DNA sequence encoded a protein of 732 amino acid residues, 40% of which were confirmed by protein sequence data from 19 CNBr or CNBr tryptic peptides. The isolated enzyme is NH2-terminally blocked (Kobayashi, K., and Smith, J. A. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 11435-11445), and based on the NH2-terminal protein sequence deduced from the DNA sequence and the sequence of the most NH2-terminal CNBr peptide, it is likely that the NH2-terminal residue is an acetylated methionine residue, since such residues are frequently juxtaposed to glutamyl residues (Persson, B., Flinta, C., von Heijne, G., and Jornvall, H. (1985) Eur. J. Biochem. 152, 523-527). The RNA blot analysis revealed a single message of 2.7 kilobases in various rat tissues examined. Although this enzyme is known to be inhibited by diisopropyl fluorophosphate and acetylalanine chloromethyl ketone (Kobayashi, K., and Smith, J. A. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 11435-11445), no strong similarity in protein sequence has been found with other serine proteases. This result suggests that acyl-peptide hydrolase may be a unique serine protease.     

Studies on the role and mode of operation of the very-lysine-rich histone H1 in eukaryote chromatin. The isolation of the globular and non-globular regions of the histone H1 molecule.

Digestion of calf thymus H1 histone with thrombin cleaves the molecule at the sequence -(Pro)-Lys-Lys-Ala-, corresponding to a point approximately 122 residues from the N-terminus (about 56% along the molecule). The N-terminal fragment is shown by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to possess the globular structure of the intact histome H1 molecule, whereas the C-terminal fragment appears to possess little or no structure. The N-terminal fragment separates into two peaks on an ion-exchange column, one of which is shown to originate from a single subfraction of calf thymus histone H1 and the other to originate from the other subfractions, by detailed comparison of the NMR spectra. It thus seems that the structure of the H1 histone in solution under physiological conditions consists of a globular head with a highly basic random coil tail. It is suggested that the globular head has a specific binding site on the subunit structure of the chromosome.     

Amino acid sequence of rat thymus histone H2B and identification of the in vitro phosphorylation sites.

The amino acid sequence of rat thymus histone obtained in highly purified form by preparative electrophoresis, was determined. This sequence is identical to the sequence of calf thymus histone H2B. The in vitro phosphorylation of the rat histone with a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase isolated from rat pancreas led to the identification of four sites of phosphorylation: two major ones, at serine residues 32 and 36, and two minor ones, specific of the rat protein kinase, at serine residues 87 and 91.     

The primary structure of Lactobacillus casei thymidylate synthetase. I. The isolation of cyanogen bromide peptides 1 through 5 and the complete amino acid sequence of CNBr 1, 2, 3, and 5.

Thymidylate synthetase from Lactobacillus casei was S-carboxymethylated and degraded by treatment with cyanogen bromide. Although the protein contains 6 methionine residues, only 5 cyanogen bromide peptides were obtained due to the presence of 1 methionine on the NH2 terminus and another adjacent to a threonine residue which was resistant to cleavage. The peptides were isolated by differential extraction, first with ammonium acetate, then pyridine acetate, and finally the residue was solubilized with 50% acetic acid. Each peptide was further purified to homogeneity by Bio-Gel chromatography. The size of the peptides from the amino to carboxyl end of the enzyme subunit was CNBr 1, 4,100; CNBr 2, 10,300; CNBr 3, 8,100; CNBr 4, 11,800; CNBr 5, 2,200. The sum of the amino acid residues of the peptides is equal to the sum of the residues in an enzyme subunit, indicating that all of the CNBr peptides have been isolated. The CNBr-resistant methionine was located in CNBr 2 and the 5-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-monophosphate binding site in CNBr 4. The holoenzyme molecular weight, based on the residue weights of the amino acids in the two equivalent subunits, is equal to 73,176. The complete sequence of each of the CNBr peptides, except for CNBr 4, which is presented in the following paper, is described.     

Phenylalanine metabolism in isolated rat liver cells. Effects of glucagon and diabetes.

Tryptic digestion of histone H1 from the sperm of the sea urchin Sphaerechinus granularis leaves a limiting peptide of approx. 80 residues that is of similar size to the limit peptide from calf thymus H1 or chicken erythrocyte H5. The S. granularis limit peptide folds to form tertiary structure similar to that of the intact parent histone H1 (shown by n.m.r. spectra), but the helical content is decreased by the digestion from 64 residues to 28. In contrast, intact calf thymus H1 and chicken erythrocyte H5 histones have only about 28 helical residues, which are preserved in their limit peptides. The extra helix in S. granularis is shown to be rapidly digested away by trypsin, and its location in histone H1 is discussed. A possible relationship of this structural feature to the length of linker DNA is proposed.     

Identification of procalcitonin in a rat medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line

As a first step in studying the biosynthesis of the peptide hormone calcitonin, we have identified procalcitonin species in CA-77 cells, a newly developed rat medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line. mRNA extracted from the cells directed the synthesis of a putative procalcitonin in a reticulocyte lysate translation system containing microsomal membranes. Both this species and a radiolabeled form of immunoreactive calcitonin from intact cells had the same retention time during reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. The putative cellular procalcitonin was also immunoprecipitated by antiserum to a synthetic peptide whose sequence constitutes the COOH-terminal 16 residues of preprocalcitonin. The polypeptide had a Mr = 13,400, as estimated by gel filtration chromatography under denaturing conditions. Microsequencing of the [35S]methionine-labeled polypeptide indicated that residues 13, 32, and 34 of procalcitonin were methionine. Similar analysis of the peptide labeled with [3H]proline indicated that residues 2 and 11 of the precursor were proline. The positions of methionine and proline could be aligned in a unique manner with the NH2-terminal half of the preprocalcitonin sequence inferred from cDNA analyses. These results indicate that procalcitonin consists of 111 amino acids and suggest that a 25-residue signal sequence is cotranslationally cleaved from preprocalcitonin. From the procalcitonin sequence we can now predict the sequence of likely biosynthetic intermediates and mature secretory products derived from the NH2-terminal as well as COOH-terminal regions of the precursor.     

Structural studies on a glycoprotein isolated from alveoli of patients with alveolar proteinosis.

A major glycoprotein 36 000 molecular weight) has been isolated from lung lavage of patients with alveolar proteinosis and found to contain five residues of hydroxyproline, fifty residues of glycine, three residues of methionine, 3 mol of sialic acid, 4.4 mol of mannose, 4.0 mol of galactose, 6.0 mol of glucosamine, and 1 mol of fucose. Cyanogen bromide (CNBr) treatment of the glycoprotein resulted, as expected, in four peptides of apparent molecular weights of 18 000, 12 000, 5000 and 1000, respectively. The chemical compositions of the CNBr peptides indicate the presence of hydroxyproline and high amounts of glycine in all but one of the peptides; two of the four CNBr peptides contain carbohydrate. Gel filtration, acrylamide gel electrophoresis and end-group analyses of the native glycoprotein and its CNBr peptides indicate that the peptides are homogeneous. End-group analyses of the CNBr cleavage products assign the 18 000 molecular weight peptide to the NH2-terminal portion and the 1000 molecular weight peptide to the COOH-terminal portion of the native glycoprotein molecule. Pronase digestion of the 36 000 molecular weight glycoprotein, followed by gel filtration and cation exchange chromatography, resulted in two fractions. One fraction was acidic and contained all the carbohydrate, a high content of aspartic acid and no hydroxyproline. The other fraction was basic and contained 8.4% hydroxyproline, 14% proline, 28% glycine and no carbohydrate, suggesting the presence of collagen-like sequence in the peptide chain. Paper electrophoresis of the basic fraction demonstrated two components, the amino acid compositions of which are identical to those of collagen. Partial amino-terminal sequence analysis of one of the CNBr peptides (18 000 molecular weight) indicated the presence of -Fly-Pro-HyP-Gly-sequence in the peptide chain, which confirms our suggestion that collagen-like regions are present in the native glycoprotein molecule. Limited acid hydrolysis of the acidic fraction and subsequent fractionation of the acid hydrolysate using Dowex column yielded a fraction which produced brown colour with ninhydrin reagent. Paper chromatography of this fraction demonstrated a large component which also stained brown with ninhydrin reagent. After acid hydrolysis, this component was found to consist of equal amounts of asparitic acid and glucosamine, indicating that the N-acetylglucosamine of the oligosaccharides is linked to the asparagine residue of the peptide. No serine or threonine linkages are present.     

Phosphorylation of synthetic peptides by (32P)ATP and cyclic GMP-stimulated protein kinase.

Cyclic GMP-stimulated protein kinase from pig lung has been shown to phosphorylate synthetic peptides. The rate of phosphorylation was about one order of magnitude higher than that for mixed histones at a comparable concentration, $\text{i.e.}$ 0.1 mM. The peptides represented sites, phosphorylatable by cyclic AMP-stimulated protein kinase, in pyruvate kinase type L from rat liver, calf thymus histone H2B and the α-subunit of rabbit muscle phosphorylase b kinase. The shortest pyruvate kinase peptide that could be phosphorylated at a significant rate by cyclic GMP-stimulated protein kinase was Arg-Arg-Ala-Ser-Val-Ala, which is one amino acid residue longer than the minimal substrate of cyclic AMP-stimulated protein kinase. The apparent K_m was 0.3 mM which is about 10 times higher than that with cyclic AMP-stimulated protein kinase. The K_m was only slightly decreased upon successive extension of the peptide in the N-terminal direction to Gly-Val-Leu-Arg-Arg-Ala-Ser-Val-Ala. Modification of the sequence showed the importance of two adjacent arginyl residues, and substitution of arginine for the C-terminal alanine abolished the measurable activity. Thus, it has been demonstrated that there are both differences and similarities in substrate specificity of the two protein kinases.     

Cell-free translation of the messenger RNA for calf terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase

Poly(A)-rich RNA has been isolated from calf thymus and translated in vitro in a rabbit reticulocyte translation system. Three peptides with Mr = 58,000, 33,000, and 13,000 were specifically immunoprecipitated from the translation products with calf terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase antiserum. An oligo(dT)-purified preparation of calf terminal transferase competed with only the Mr = 58,000 peptide in the immunoprecipitation reaction. The anti-terminal transferase serum did not precipitate a Mr = 58,000 peptide from translation products of spleen or liver mRNA, but it did precipitate the Mr = 33,000 and 13,000 peptides from products of spleen mRNA and a Mr = 13,000 peptide from products of liver mRNA. In addition, when an affinity-purified antibody to calf terminal transferase was used, only a Mr = 58,000 peptide was immunoprecipitated from the translation products of calf thymus mRNA, and none was immunoprecipitated from spleen or liver mRNA products. This antibody also precipitated a Mr = 58,000 peptide from the cell lysates of calf thymocytes labeled in vitro with [35S]methionine. These results demonstrate that calf terminal transferase is biosynthesized as a Mr = 58,000 peptide.     

Isolation and characterization of the methionine aminopeptidase from porcine liver responsible for the co-translational processing of proteins.

A methionine aminopeptidase that specifically removes methionine residues from peptides with amino-terminal sequences of Met-Ala-, Met-Val-, Met-Ser-, Met-Gly-, and Met-Pro- but not Met-Leu- or Met-Lys- has been isolated to homogeneity from porcine liver by a procedure involving five chromatographic steps. The enzyme, whose specificity matches that predicted for the entity responsible for the co-translational amino-terminal processing of nascent polypeptide chains, has a measured molecular mass of 70,000 Da by SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis and 67,000 Da by gel chromatography (under nondenaturing conditions), suggesting the native molecule is a monomer. It is activated by Co2+ and inhibited by beta-mercaptoethanol and EDTA. With octapeptide substrates related to the amino-terminal portion of the beta-chain of human hemoglobin (with a histidine in position 3), the enzyme had a pH optimum of 6.0. With a synthetic peptide devoid of histidine, it showed no pH dependence from 6.0 to 8.0. This sensitivity may be due to the propensity of peptides with histidine in the third position to bind divalent cations such as Co2+. The measured Km and kappa cat values were affected by residues in the second position. The peptide corresponding to the natural sequence (Met-Val-His-) gave a kappa cat/Km value of 260 mM-1 s-1; substitution of alanine in the second position raised the kappa cat/Km to 1523 mM-1 s-1, but substitution of proline lowered the value to 130. The effects are primarily on the kappa cat. The substitution of proline (for histidine) in the third position, the mutation found in hemoglobin Long Island, prevents the removal of the methionine residue, as occurs with the mutant protein. The porcine liver enzyme is similar to methionine aminopeptidases isolated from Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and yeast in that it also is stimulated by Co2+. However, it is much larger than these enzymes and differs somewhat in specificity, particularly with the yeast enzyme.     

Acanthamoeba actin and profilin can be cross-linked between glutamic acid 364 of actin and lysine 115 of profilin

Acanthamoeba profilin was cross-linked to actin via a zero-length isopeptide bond using carbodiimide. The covalently linked 1:1 complex was purified and treated with cyanogen bromide. This cleaves actin into small cyanogen bromide (CNBr) peptides and leaves the profilin intact owing to its lack of methionine. Profilin with one covalently attached actin CNBr peptide was purified by gel filtration followed by gel electrophoresis and electroblotting on polybase-coated glass-fiber membranes. Since the NH2 terminus of profilin is blocked, Edman degradation gave only the sequence of the conjugated actin CNBr fragment beginning with Trp-356. The profilin-actin CNBr peptide conjugate was digested further with trypsin and the cross-linked peptide identified by comparison with the tryptic peptide pattern obtained from carbodiimide-treated profilin. Amino-acid sequence analysis of the cross-linked tryptic peptides produced two residues at each cycle. Their order corresponds to actin starting at Trp-356 and profilin starting at Ala-94. From the absence of the phenylthiohydantoin-amino acid residues in specific cycles, we conclude that actin Glu-364 is linked to Lys-115 in profilin. Experiments with the isoforms of profilin I and profilin II gave identical results. The cross-linked region in profilin is homologous with sequences in the larger actin filament capping proteins fragmin and gelsolin.     

Sorbitol dehydrogenase. The primary structure of the sheep-liver enzyme

The first primary structure for a sorbitol dehydrogenase has been determined by analysis of the tetrameric enzyme from sheep liver. The [14C]carboxymethylated protein was cleaved with CNBr and proteolytic enzymes. Peptides were purified by several methods, often utilizing exclusion chromatography for pre-fractionation and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography for final purification. Different methods of sequence analysis complemented each other, mainly the manual dimethylaminoazobenzene isothiocyanate method and and the use of liquid-phase sequencer degradations. All eight major CNBr fragments were purified and form the basis of the work. Three minor CNBr fragments derived from an acid cleavage and from a partly resistant Met-Thr bond were also obtained, as well as evidence for a contaminating homologous polypeptide. Most of the tryptic peptides were purified, including all with methionine residues, thus overlapping the CNBr fragments. Combined, all data permit the deduction of a 354-residue amino acid sequence for the polypeptide chain of sorbitol dehydrogenase. The N terminus is acyl-blocked, the C terminus is formed by a proline residue, tryptophan is the least common residue (two, at positions 50 and 301) and there are 10 cysteine residues, including the residue previously shown to be especially reactive (at position 43). Similarities to 'long' alcohol dehydrogenases have functional implications.     

Histone H4 from cuttlefish testis is sequentially acetylated. Comparison with acetylation of calf thymus histone H4

The differently acetylated subfractions of histone H4 isolated from cuttlefish testis and from calf thymus were separated by ion exchange chromatography on sulfopropyl-Sephadex, using a shallow linear gradient of guanidine hydrochloride in the presence of 6 M urea at pH 3.0. The tetra-, tri-, di-, mono-, and nonacetylated forms of cuttlefish H4 represent 2, 6.4, 18, 32.2, and 41.4% of the whole histone, respectively. The di-, mono-, and nonacetylated forms of calf H4 represent 11.7, 41.3, and 44% of the whole histone, respectively. The acetylation sites were determined in each subfraction by identification of the acetylated peptides. In each acetylated H4 subfraction, the acetylated tryptic peptides were identified by peptide mapping and amino acid analysis with reference to the peptide map of nonacetylated H4. In cuttlefish testis H4, lysine 12 is the main site of acetylation in the monoacetylated subfraction; lysines 5 and 12 are found acetylated in diacetylated H4; lysines 5, 12, and 16 are found acetylated in triacetylated H4. From these results and the stoichiometry of the different H4 subfractions, it can be concluded that lysine 5 is acetylated after lysine 12. In calf thymus, lysine 16 is the only site of acetylation in the monoacetylated subfraction. All the diacetylated forms are acetylated in lysine 16, the second site of acetylation being, in decreasing order, lysine 12, lysine 5, or lysine 8. These observations suggest that acetylation occurs in a sequential manner. Moreover, the sites of acetylation depend upon the biological event in which acetylation is involved.     

Incorporation of labeled formate in rat liver mitochondrial proteins and initiation of protein synthesis

During incubation of rat liver mitochondria in vitro labeled formate is incorporated into TCA-insoluble substance during mitochondrial translation. Data from hydrolysis with CNBr (after methionine residues) or with 0.5 N HCl (deformylation of amino acid N-formyl derivatives) suggest that about half of the total protein radioactivity is incorporated in formate groups of N-terminal methionine. Labeling of growing polypeptides with formate (but not with phenylalanine or methionine) oscillates with a period of about 13 min. The potential initiation capacity is unchangeable and exceeds that observed experimentally by one order of magnitude. The data obtained are consistent with the previously proposed hypothesis no synchronization of mitochondrial protein synthesis which cannot be induced by the steps preceding the formation of the first peptide bound.     

Human prothymosin alpha: amino acid sequence and immunologic properties

Prothymosin alpha has been purified from human thymus and its amino acid sequence determined, except for a 15 amino acid segment including 10 glutamyl residues near the middle of the molecule. Like prothymosin alpha from rat thymus [A. A. Haritos, R. Blacher, S. Stein, J. Caldarella, and B. L. Horecker (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82, 343-346], human prothymosin contains the thymosin alpha 1 sequence at its NH2-terminus. It contains a total of 109-110 residues compared to 111-112 for rat prothymosin alpha, with deletions corresponding to positions Gln39 and Lys108 of the rat polypeptide. Human prothymosin alpha also differs from rat prothymosin alpha at positions corresponding to residues 87, 92, and 102 of the latter, with substitutions of alanine for proline, alanine for valine, and aspartic acid for glutamic acid, respectively. Human prothymosin is significantly less active than rat prothymosin in protecting mice against infection with Candida albicans and in stimulating release in vivo of migration inhibitory factor. Thus, the differences in amino acid sequences, present mainly the COOH-terminal half of the polypeptides, may determine species specificity in biological properties.     

Human complement component C1s. Partial sequence determination of the heavy chain and identification of the peptide bond cleaved during activation

Human C1s proenzyme (Mr 83 000) was isolated by a rapid two-stage method involving affinity chromatography of C1 on IgG-Sepharose and isolation of subcomponent C1s by ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephacel. Single-chain C1s proenzyme was activated to two-chain C1s with self-activated C1r. After reduction and S-carboxamidomethylation the heavy chain of C1s (Mr 57 000) was isolated by ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephacel. Cleavage of C1s heavy chain with CNBr yielded five fragments whose N-terminal sequences were determined. The alignment of the fragments within the heavy chain was established by tryptic peptides containing methionine. C1s heavy chain comprises about 470 amino acid residues and 42% of its sequence was determined. An intrachain sequence homology and a homology to the alpha 2 chain of human haptoglobin were identified. The C-terminal CNBr fragment comprising 44 amino acid residues was completely sequenced. From BNPS-skatole cleavage of reduced and alkylated C1s proenzyme a fragment was isolated which overlaps the C1s heavy and light chain parts and which contains the peptide bond cleaved during activation. The results show that this is an Arg-Ile bond and that under standard conditions of activation no peptide material is liberated from this portion of the molecule. The sequence data and homology to two-chain serine proteases indicate a single interchain disulfide bond in C1s.