Antibodies Raised Against Synthetic Peptides React with Choline Acetyltransferase in Various Immunoassays and in Immunohistochemistry

Abstract: Antisera were raised in rabbits against five synthetic peptides. These peptides have been identified as potentially antigenic epitopes from the sequence of porcine choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) using primary and secondary structure analysis. All five antisera recognized immunoaffinity-purified antigen from porcine brain in an ELISA and on western blots. Four antisera recognized ChAT on dot blots, and another four antisera reacted with native and degraded enzyme in a sandwich ELISA using monoclonal antibodies as the capture antibody. One peptide antiserum was of similar avidity in this sandwich ELISA as a polyclonal antibody raised against immunoaffinity-purified ChAT. The same antiserum reacted with the enzyme from human placenta in an ELISA and on western and dot blots and recognized ChAT in rat, primate, and human neurons. Thus, a single peptide (amino acids 168- 189) provides the means for easy, reliable, and reproducible generation of antibodies against ChAT suitable for replacing conventional polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies.     

Subunit structure of deglycosylated human and swine trachea and Cowper's gland mucin glycoproteins

Summary The oligosaccharide chains in human and swine trachea and Cowper's gland mucin glycoproteins were completely removed in order to examine the subunit structure and properties of the polypeptide chains of these glycoproteins. The carbohydrate, which constitutes more than 70% of these glycoproteins, was removed by two treatments with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid for 3 h at 3° and periodate oxidation by a modified Smith degradation. All of the sialic acid, fucose, galactose, N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine present in these glycoproteins was removed by these procedures.The deglycosylated polypeptide chains were purified and characterized. The size of the monomeric forms of all three polypeptide chains were very similar. Data obtained by gel filtration, release of amino acids during hydrolysis with carboxypeptidase B and gel electrophoresis in the presence of 0.1% dodecyl sulfate showed that a major fraction from each of the three mucin glycoproteins had a molecular size of about 67 kDa. All of the deglycosylated chains had a tendency to aggregate. Digestion with carboxypeptidases showed that human and swine trachea mucin glycoproteins had identical carboxyl terminal sequences, -Val-Ala-Phe-Tyr-Leu-Lys-Arg-COOH. Cowper's gland mucin glycoprotein had a similar carboxyl terminal sequence, -Val-Ala-Tyr-Leu-Phe-Arg-Arg-COOH. The yield of amino acids after long periods of hydrolysis with carboxypeptidases showed that at least 85% of the polypeptide chains in each of the deglycosylated preparations have these sequences. These results suggested that the polypeptide chains in these deglycosylated mucin glycoprotein preparations were relatively homogeneous.The deglycosylated polypeptide chains as well as the intact mucin glycoproteins had blocked amino terminii. The purified polypeptide chains were digested with trypsin-TCPK, and S. aureus V8 protease and the resulting peptides were isolated by gel electrophoresis in the presence of 0.1% dodecyl sulfate and by HPLC. Two partial amino acid sequences from swine trachea mucin glycoprotein, two partial sequences from human trachea mucin glycoprotein and three partial sequences from Cowper's gland mucin glycoprotein were determined. The partial amino acid sequences of the peptides isolated from swine trachea mucin glycoprotein showed more than 70% sequence homology to a repeating sequence present in porcine submaxillary mucin glycoprotein. Five to eight immunoprecipitable bands with sizes ranging from about 40 kDa to 46 kDa were seen when the polypeptide chains were digested with S. aureus V8 protease. All of the bands had blocked amino terminii and differed by a constant molecular weight of about 1.5 kDa. These data suggest that the polypeptides were formed by cleavage of glutamic acid residues present at regular intervals in the chains of all three mucin glycoproteins. These large immunoreactive peptides were formed by the removal of smaller peptides from the carboxyl terminal end of the deglycosylated mucin glycoprotein chains. Taken collectively, these findings indicate that the polypeptide chains in these mucin glycoproteins are very similar in subunit structure and that there is a high degree of homology between their polypeptide chains.     

Complete amino acid sequence of human serum cholinesterase

The complete amino acid sequence of human serum cholinesterase (choline esterase II (unspecific), EC 3.1.1.8) was determined by Edman degradation of purified peptides. The protein contains 574 amino acids per subunit and nine carbohydrate chains attached to 9 asparagines. The four subunits of cholinesterase appear to be identical. The active site serine is the 198th residue from the amino terminus. The sequence of human serum cholinesterase is 53.8% identical with the sequence of acetylcholinesterase from Torpedo californica and 28% identical with the carboxyl-terminal portion of bovine thyroglobulin.     

Purification and partial amino acid sequence of annexin V from porcine gastric mucosal membranes.

1. Annexin V has been purified from Triton X-100 extracts of porcine gastric mucosal membranes by a combination of chromatography on concanavalin A-Sepharose and DEAE-Sepharose, and preparative gel electrophoresis. 2. No N-terminal amino acid sequence was detected. 3. The sequences of 11 tryptic peptides were determined, amounting to a total of 121 amino acids, or 38% of the molecule. 4. When the peptides were compared with the cDNA-derived sequence of human annexin V, only three substitutions were observed. 5. Human and porcine annexin V are 97% homologous within the sequenced regions.     

Isolation and sequence determination of cDNA clones for porcine and human lipoamide dehydrogenase. Homology to other disulfide oxidoreductases

A 2.3-kilobase cDNA clone encoding lipoamide dehydrogenase was isolated from a porcine adrenal medulla library in the vector pCD by screening with four synthetic oligonucleotide probes corresponding to amino acid sequence from tryptic peptides of porcine lipoamide dehydrogenase. A 450-bp fragment of the porcine cDNA was used to screen a human small cell lambda gt10 library at reduced stringency. Overlapping human cDNA clones of various lengths were isolated, the largest of which was again 2.3 kilobases in length. Sequencing of both porcine and human cDNAs revealed a short 5'-untranslated region followed by 1530-bp of coding region and 700 bp of 3'-untranslated region preceding a poly(A) tail. The porcine cDNA displayed coding regions corresponding to the known tryptic peptides and a 35-amino acid leader sequence involved in targeting of the protein to the mitochondria. The human lipoamide dehydrogenase cDNA is 96% identical to the porcine at the amino acid level. Alignment of the deduced amino acid sequence of human lipoamide dehydrogenase with human erythrocyte glutathione reductase and mercuric reductase from Tn501 revealed extensive homologies throughout the primary sequence, suggesting that secondary and tertiary structure is also similar among these three enzymes.     

Amino terminal fragments of human progastrin from gastrinoma

Two peptides which copurified from a human gastrinoma were found to correspond to the amino acid sequence deduced for the amino terminal portion of human and porcine progastrin. The sequence of peptide A is Ser-Trp-Lys-Pro-Arg-Ser-Gln-Gln-Pro-Asp-Ala-Pro-Leu-Gly-Thr-Gly-Ala-Asn- Arg-Asp-Leu-Glu-Leu which is identical to an amino terminal portion of human progastrin. The sequence of peptide. B is identical to that of peptide A except it is missing the first five amino acids. If peptide A corresponds to the amino terminus of progastrin, the signal peptidase cleaves at an Ala-Ser bond.     

Primary structure deduced from complementary DNA sequence and expression in cultured cells of mammalian 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid dioxygenase. Evidence that the enzyme is a homodimer of identical subunits homologous to rat liver-specific alloantigen F.

4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid dioxygenase is an important enzyme in tyrosine catabolism in most organisms. From porcine and human liver cDNA libraries we isolated complementary DNA inserts for the enzyme. Protein sequence analysis of the porcine enzyme revealed a block of the amino terminus of the mature enzyme. Comparison of the amino acid sequence determined by Edman degradation of peptides derived from porcine liver 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid dioxygenase with the nucleotide sequences revealed the primary structure of the porcine and human enzymes. The mature human and porcine enzymes have an 89% amino acid sequence identity in amino acid residues and are composed of 392 amino acid residues. A computer-assisted homology search revealed that the enzyme is 88% identical in amino acid sequence to rat liver-specific alloantigen F. A monoclonal antibody (mob 51), which can immunoprecipitate both the human and porcine enzymes, was developed. Cultured BMT-10 cells transfected with the cDNA insert of the human enzyme, using the expression vector pCAGGSneodE, produced a polypeptide with an M(r) of 43,000, which was immunoprecipitated with mob 51. Enzymic activity of the enzyme was detected in the transfected cells but not in the mock transfected cells. These findings suggest that the human 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid dioxygenase is a homodimer of two identical subunits with an M(r) of 43,000. Liver-specific alloantigen F seems to be closely related to the enzyme or possibly to the subunit of the enzyme itself. Elucidation of the complete amino acid sequence of the enzyme is expected to reveal structure-function relationships of this metabolically important enzyme and to shed light on inherited disorders related to tyrosine metabolism, especially tyrosinemia types 1 and 3.     

Mapping of dominant B-cell epitopes of a human zona pellucida protein (ZP1)

Zona pellucida (ZP) glycoproteins contain numerous antigenic determinants including carbohydrate, protein, and conformational epitopes; and the immunogenicity of these complex glycoproteins varies in different mammalian hosts. Studies have now shown that antibodies from primates immunized with a cDNA-expressed recombinant rabbit ZP protein (the homologue of the human ZP1 [hZP1]) inhibit sperm binding to the ZP without altering ovarian function, unlike immunization with ZP3 and ZP2 protein families. The ZP1 protein or peptides derived from it (recombinant or synthetic) are therefore primary candidates for use in designing safe and reversible human and animal contraceptive vaccines. In order to define peptide epitope(s) that may be critical for eliciting an immune response sufficient to effect immunological contraception without causing any adverse effects on ovarian physiology, studies have been carried out to identify immunodominant B-cell epitopes of the ZP1 protein. The amino acid sequence of the hZP1 was used to design a set of 94 (15-mer) biotinylated peptides having an overlap of 9 amino acids. Using these peptides in a modified enzyme-linked immunoassay, antibodies in sera from rabbits or baboons immunized with native porcine ZP protein were screened for ZP1 peptide recognition. These studies demonstrate that there are a limited number of peptides recognized by primate antibodies but that the overlapping peptides sharing the sequence GPLTLELQI are recognized by both rabbit and baboon antibodies regardless of the adjuvant system used to induce the immune response. This peptide is 100% conserved in amino acid sequence between the human and pig, although the rabbit protein has two conserved amino acid substitutions (100% similar, 77% identical). Because this peptide is immunogenic as well as antigenic in primates, it could play a major role in the development of human contraceptive vaccines.     

The primary sequence of human pancreatic colipase

The amino acid sequence of an activated colipase purified from human pancreas was determined. The protein consists of a single polypeptide chain of 86 amino acids (human colipase₈₆) and has a molecular weight of 9289. The sequence was determined by automated Edman degradation of the reduced and S-carboxymethylated protein and of two CNBr peptides. Sequence determination of porcine procolipase II was also performed, which showed that in the original sequence determination apparently two residues were missed. These residues were determined to be a leucine at position 37 and a serine in position 50. For comparison with porcine and equine procolipases, the residues composing human colipase are numbered from 6 to 91. No human procolipase has been isolated so far. The colipases from man, pig, horse and chicken show a high degree of homology: human colipase differs from the other proteins by substitutions of 19 (porcine), 24 (equine A) and 21 (equine B) residues, respectively.     

The isolation and characterization of rabbit motilin precursor cDNA.

The cDNA sequence of rabbit motilin precursor has been determined. The predicted amino acid sequence indicates that the precursor consists of 133 amino acids and includes a 25 amino acid signal peptide followed by the 22 amino acid motilin sequence and an 86 amino acid motilin associated peptide (MAP). As in the human and porcine precursors, two lysine residues follow motilin in the rabbit sequence. Rabbit motilin shares 64% amino acid sequence identity with human and porcine motilin, and all amino acid substitutions represent conservative changes. Amino acid sequence alignments of the rabbit, human and porcine MAP sequences suggest three functional/structural motifs corresponding to a putative endoproteinase recognition site, a putative PEST site and a potential posttranslational processing recognition element.     

Nucleotide and primary amino acid sequence of porcine lactoferrin.

A cDNA encoding porcine lactoferrin (pLF) was isolated from a porcine mammary gland lambda gt11 cDNA library using human lactoferrin cDNA as the hybridization probe. Nucleotide sequence analysis indicates that pLF is 686 amino acids in length and shares 72.6%, 70.7% and 62.2% overall amino acid sequence identity with bovine, human and murine lactoferrin, respectively.     

Antigenic determinants of acylphosphatase from porcine skeletal muscle

Analysis of the quantitative precipitin reaction of acylphosphatase from porcine skeletal muscle with rabbit antiserum indicated the presence of at least two antigenic determinants on the porcine enzyme molecule. Immunological cross-reactivities of acylphosphatases from equine and rabbit skeletal muscles were examined. In double immunodiffusion with the antiserum, the precipitin lines of the porcine and equine enzymes completely fused, while the rabbit enzyme gave no precipitin line. The reaction between the 125I-labeled porcine enzyme and its antibody was inhibited to the same extent by the porcine and equine enzymes, but not by the rabbit enzyme. The three enzymes were similar in net charge and molecular weight on polyacrylamide gel electrophoreses. No conformational difference among the three enzymes was observed in their circular dichroism spectra. The amino acid composition of the rabbit enzyme differed from those of the porcine and equine enzymes in the contents of Glu, Gly, Lys, and Arg. Differences in the sequence of the rabbit enzyme from that of the porcine enzyme were investigated by comparison of the peptide maps of the tryptic peptides of the two enzymes. Four peptides of the rabbit enzyme were located at different positions from those of the porcine enzyme. Three of the four peptides from both enzymes were sequenced and all the tryptic peptides of both enzymes were characterized by amino acid analysis. The tryptic peptides of rabbit enzyme were tentatively aligned on the basis of their amino acid compositions and sequence homologies, compared with the corresponding peptides of the porcine enzyme. Among five amino acid residues of the porcine enzyme, Arg-4, Asp-28, Arg-31, Glu-56, and Ile-68, which are replaced in the rabbit enzyme, Arg-4 and Asp-28 are considered to be included in the antigenic determinants.     

Studies of amino-acid sequence in dihydrofolate reductase from a human methotrexate-resistant cell line KB/6b. Structural and kinetic comparison with mouse L1210 enzyme

The partial amino acid sequence of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR, EC 1.5.1.3) from human KB/6b cells has been determined by using 3.5 mg of protein. Peptides covering the entire polypeptide chain were recovered from preparative peptide maps generated by the combination of paper chromatography and electrophoresis at pH 4.4 Peptide maps from mouse L1210 DHFR were also generated for comparison. Amino acid sequence of 75% of the 186 amino acid residues in the polypeptide chain of human KB/6b DHFR was obtained from Edman degradations and the remaining sequence was deduced from the amino acid compositions, from electrophoretic mobilities of related peptides and from the sequence homologies with other known mammalian DHFR sequences. A comparison of the proposed human DHFR sequence with the previously known sequences of mouse enzyme [Stone, et al. (1979) J. Biol. Chem. 245, 480-488] indicates that 18 differences are located in the established sequence of 139 residues and that 5 additional differences are in the tentative sequence of the remaining 47 amino acids. Kinetic properties of human KB/6b and mouse L1210 DHFR, which were determined in parallel experiments, are also compared. The possible structural-functional relationships between human and mouse DHFR are discussed.     

Primary structure of the casein macropeptide of porcine and human kappa caseins]

The amino acid sequence of porcine and human caseinomacropeptides (CMP), the C-terminal glycopeptide released from kappa-casein by chymosin at the initial step of milk coagulation, have been investigated. The complete amino acid sequence of porcine CMP and that of the first 59 amino acid residues of human CMP have been determined. Porcine and human CMPs contain 71 and likely 65 amino acid residues respectively. The extra hexapeptide 38-43 found in porcine CMP arises obviously from the duplication of the DNA fragment coding for the 6 preceding amino acids.     

Primary amino acid sequence of bovine dopamine beta-hydroxylase

Fifty-eight tryptic and Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease generated peptides from bovine dopamine beta-hydroxylase were isolated by reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography and sequenced. These peptide sequences were compared with the deduced amino acid sequences of bovine and human dopamine beta-hydroxylase obtained from the cloned cDNAs. Bovine peptide sequences had five differences with the sequence derived from the bovine cDNA, and four of the changes could be accounted for by a single base change in the DNA. N-terminal sequence analysis of the bovine enzyme indicated that it contained two N termini, one of which is 3 amino acids longer than the other and begins with the sequence Ser-Ala-Pro. The amino acid sequences deduced from the bovine and human cDNAs are 19 and 25 amino acids longer, respectively, and these additional amino acids represent leader peptide sequences. Two bovine peptide sequences contained glycosylation sites and gave positive tests for carbohydrate residues, and two others contained the consensus sequence for a glycosylation site but were negative in the carbohydrate test. The bovine enzyme contains 6 Trp, as compared with 7 in the bovine cDNA and 8 in the human cDNA. The protein and bovine cDNA contain 24 Tyr each, as compared with 26 in the human cDNA. These numbers indicate that the true epsilon 1% 280 = 8.95, and, therefore, that it is 28% lower than the previously determined value. The data also identify 5 His-containing regions that may be involved in Cu2+ coordination at the active site.     

Structural characterization of a follicle-stimulating hormone action inhibitor in porcine ovarian follicular fluid. Its identification as the insulin-like growth factor-binding protein.

Recently, an inhibitory polypeptide that could block the follicle-stimulating hormone-induced estradiol and progesterone production in rat ovary granulosa cells has been isolated from porcine ovarian follicular fluid. Amino-terminal sequence analysis of the purified inhibitor suggests that it could be the porcine congener of the 53-kDa subunit of the growth hormone-dependent insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGF-BP3). Using amino acid sequence information derived from the purified inhibitor to construct oligonucleotide probes, we have now identified the complementary deoxyribonucleic acids (cDNAs) encoding the inhibitory polypeptide from a porcine liver and a porcine ovary library. The nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequences revealed that the cDNAs indeed encode the porcine homolog of the recently characterized human IGF-BP3. The mature polypeptide consists of 266 amino acids, which is 2 amino acids longer than the human sequence. Between the two species, there are 42 amino acid substitutions, but the 18 cysteines and the three Asn-linked glycosylation sites are totally conserved. A single mRNA species of 2.6 kilobases encoding the IGF-BP3 was detected in porcine gonadal, brain, and liver tissues by Northern analysis.     

Alpha-fetoprotein-derived antiestrotrophic octapeptide

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a major serum protein produced during fetal development. Experimental findings suggest that AFP has antiestrotrophic activity and that it can be developed as a therapeutic agent to treat existing estrogen-dependent breast cancer or to prevent premalignant foci from developing into breast cancer. The antiestrotrophic activity of AFP was reported to be localized to a peptide consisting of amino acids 447-480, a 34-mer peptide termed P447. A series of parsings and substitutions of amino acids in the P447 sequence was intended to identify the shortest analog which retained antiestrotrophic activity. Peptides related to P447 were generated using solid phase peptide synthesis. Several shorter peptides, including an 8-mer called P472-2 (amino acids 472-479, peptide sequence EMTPVNPG), retained activity, whereas peptides shorter than eight amino acid residues were inactive. The dose-related antiestrotrophic activity of AFP-derived peptides was determined in an immature mouse uterine growth assay that measures their ability to inhibit estradiol-stimulated uterine growth. In this assay, the maximal inhibitory activities exhibited by peptide P472-2 (49%), by peptide P447 (45%), and by intact AFP (35-45%) were comparable. The octapeptide P472-2 was also active against estradiol-stimulated growth of T47D human breast cancer cells in culture. These data suggest that peptide P472-2 is the minimal sequence in AFP, which retains the antiestrotrophic activity found with the full-length molecule. The synthetic nature and defined structure of this 8-mer peptide suggest that it can be developed into a new drug which opposes the action of estrogen, perhaps including the promotional effects of estradiol in the development of human breast cancer.