Primary structure of human fibrinogen and fibrin. Structural studies on NH2-terminal part of B beta chain.

The cyanogen bromide fragment, N-DSK, containing the NH2-terminal portions of the three chains of fibrinogen, was found to exist in dimeric and polymeric forms. These different forms gave rise to identical chain fragments on reduction and alkylation. The B beta chain of N-DSK from fibrinogen and the beta chain of N-DSK from fibrin were isolated and characterized. The B beta chain fragment has a blocked NH2-terminal residue, and fibrinopeptide B is released on digestion with thrombin. The beta chain fragment has glycine as NH2-terminal residue. The molecular weight of the B beta chain fragment is 12200 as determined by ultracentrifugal analysis. Gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulphate gave the molecular weights of 14000 and 13000 for the B beta chain and beta chain fragments, respectively. The NH2-terminal B beta chain fragment consists of 118 amino acid residues and the beta chain fragment of 104 residues. The amino acid sequence of beta chain fragment is identical to B beta chain fragment except for the fibrinopeptide B portion. The isolation of a B beta-related fragment (B beta +), with a molecular weight of 30000, is also reported. The presence of B beta + was explained on the basis of incomplete cleavage at the Met-118 residue during treatment with cyanogen bromide. Some functional aspects of the B beta chain fragment are discussed.     

A monoclonal antibody specific for Lys-plasminogen. Application to the study of the activation pathways of plasminogen in vivo

Human plasminogen, a glycoprotein with NH2-terminal Glu, is rapidly converted by traces of plasmin to proteolytic derivatives with NH2-terminal Met 68, Lys 77, or Val 78 ("Lys-plasminogen"), which are much more readily activated to plasmin than is Glu-plasminogen. It has, therefore, been proposed that physiological activation of Glu-plasminogen occurs mainly via Lys-plasminogen intermediates (Wiman, B., and Wallén, P. (1973) Eur. J. Biochem. 36, 25-31). In the present study we have characterized a murine monoclonal antibody (LPm1) directed against an epitope exposed in Lys-plasminogen but not in Glu-plasminogen. The antibody was secreted by a hybridoma obtained by fusion of mouse myeloma cells (P3X63-Ag8-6.5.3) with spleen cells of a mouse immunized with purified Lys-plasmin-alpha 2-antiplasmin complex. Coupling of the alpha-amino groups of Lys-plasminogen with phenylisothiocyanate resulted in complete loss of immunoreactivity for LPm1, which was, however, fully restored by cleavage of the derivatized NH2-terminal amino acid. After a second cycle, immunoreactivity was not restored, indicating that the LPm1 antibody-binding site depends on the presence of Lys 77 and/or Val 78 as NH2-terminal amino acids. The immunoreactivity of Lys-plasminogen with LPm1 is abolished by reduction of the protein, suggesting that conversion of Glu-plasminogen to Lys-plasminogen is associated with a conformational alteration exposing the epitope for the LPm1 monoclonal antibody. In order to investigate the pathways of plasminogen activation in vivo, total plasmin-alpha 2-antiplasmin and Lys-plasmin-alpha 2-antiplasmin complexes were measured with sandwich-type micro enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Therefore, microtiter plates were coated with monoclonal antibodies against alpha 2-antiplasmin, and bound antigen was quantitated with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated LPm1 or a monoclonal antibody reacting equally well with Glu-plasmin as with Lys-plasmin. In 25 healthy subjects the plasmin-alpha 2-antiplasmin levels in plasma were undetectable (less than 0.1 nM). Infusion of tissue-type plasminogen activator in patients with thromboembolic disease resulted in generation of high concentrations of Glu-plasmin-alpha 2-antiplasmin complex (620 +/- 150 nM, n = 7) whereas neither Lys-plasmin-alpha 2-antiplasmin complex nor Lys-plasminogen were consistently detected. It is, therefore, concluded that activation of the fibrinolytic system in vivo occurs by direct cleavage of the Arg 560-Val 561 bond in Glu-plasminogen and not via formation of the Lys-plasminogen intermediates.     

Purification and some properties of the Glu- and Lys-human plasmin heavy chains.

The heavy polypeptide chains of human Glu-plasmin and human Lys-plasmin have been isolated in native solvents, after partial reduction and carboxymethylation of the corresponding plasmins. Two major forms of each heavy chain can be eluted, after adsorption to Sepharose/lysine, utilizing a gradient of epsilon-aminocaproic acid as the eluant. The elution profile of these heavy chains is practically identical to the elution behavior previously observed for human Glu- and Lys-plasminogen, and human Glu- and Lys-plasmin adsorbed to these columns. Sedimentation velocity analysis of the heavy chain of human Glu-plasmin, in the presence of epsilon-aminocaproic acid, demonstrated that a gross conformational alteration occurs in this peptide accompanying binding of this amino acid. A much smaller conformational alteration occurs under similar circumstances with the human Lys-plasmin heavy chain. We find that the NH2-terminal peptide released in the Glu-plasminogen to Lys-plasminogen and Glu-plasmin to Lys-plasmin conversions is also released in the Glu-plasmin heavy chain to Lys-plasmin heavy chain conversion. This reaction is catalyzed at a significant rate only by plasmin and not by urokinase. Finally, no strong interaction between streptokinase and the isolated plasmin heavy chains is observed.     

Hydrodynamic studies on the streptokinase complexes of human plasminogen, Val442-plasminogen, plasmin, and the plasmin-derived light (B) chain

Sedimentation velocity and sedimentation equilibrium studies have been carried out on the Glu- and Lys-plasminogen-streptokinase complexes as well as on the complexes formed by Val442-plasmin and the light (B) chain of plasmin. Sedimentation equilibrium molecular weights are consistent with a 1 to 1 molar complex in all cases and give values consistent with the differences in size of the plasminogen moieties. Sedimentation velocity determinations in the presence of protease inhibitors give values consistent with the conformational differences already reported for the Glu- and Lys-plasminogen molecules. However, unlike Glu-plasminogen, the addition of epsilon-aminocaproic acid or lysine does not alter the conformation of the Glu-plasminogen complex. The values of the sedimentation coefficient and the molecular weight of the plasmin and the Val442-plasmin-streptokinase complexes increase to those of a dimer when determined in the absence of active-site inhibitors but return to monomer values when these inhibitors are added. Thus, dimer formation requires the presence of an available active site in at least one of the two molecules involved and is reversible.     

Kinetics of glu- and lys-plasminogen activation by the tissue activator in a fibrin clot

Using a modified procedure for measuring the time of fibrin clot lysis, the kinetics of Glu- and Lys-plasminogen activation by the tissue activator was studied. Within the plasminogen concentration range of 0.4-100 nM the rate of activation of both protein forms obeys the Michaelis-Menten kinetics. At Lys-plasminogen concentration equimolar to that of fibrin, the rate of activation of the former decreases down to that of Glu-plasminogen activation. The kinetic constants for Glu- and Lys-plasminogen activation (Km) are equal to 0.055 and 0.013 microM; k = 0.19 and 0.21 s-1, respectively. The Km values for fibrin-bound Glu- and Lys-plasminogen are equal to 0.25 nM and 8 nM, respectively (k = 0.08 and 0.26 s-1, respectively). It is assumed that the tissue activator exhibits a higher affinity for the Glu-plasminogen--fibrin complex than for the Lys-plasminogen-fibrin complex.     

Topography of the high-affinity lysine binding site of plasminogen as defined with a specific antibody probe

An antibody population that reacted with the high-affinity lysine binding site of human plasminogen was elicited by immunizing rabbits with an elastase degradation product containing kringles 1-3 (EDP I). This antibody was immunopurified by affinity chromatography on plasminogen-Sepharose and elution with 0.2 M 6-aminohexanoic acid. The eluted antibodies bound [125I]EDP I, [125I]Glu-plasminogen, and [125I]Lys-plasminogen in radioimmunoassays, and binding of each ligand was at least 99% inhibited by 0.2 M 6-aminohexanoic acid. The concentrations for 50% inhibition of [125I]EDP I binding by tranexamic acid, 6-aminohexanoic acid, and lysine were 2.6, 46, and 1730 microM, respectively. Similar values were obtained with plasminogen and suggested that an unoccupied high-affinity lysine binding site was required for antibody recognition. The antiserum reacted exclusively with plasminogen derivatives containing the EDP I region (EDP I, Glu-plasminogen, Lys-plasminogen, and the plasmin heavy chain) and did not react with those lacking an EDP I region [miniplasminogen, the plasmin light chain or EDP II (kringle 4)] or with tissue plasminogen activator or prothrombin, which also contain kringles. By immunoblotting analyses, a chymotryptic degradation product of Mr 20,000 was derived from EDP I that retained reactivity with the antibody. The high-affinity lysine binding site was equally available to the antibody probe in Glu- and Lys-plasminogen and also appeared to be unoccupied in the plasmin-alpha 2-antiplasmin complex. alpha 2-Antiplasmin inhibited the binding of radiolabeled EDP I, Glu-plasminogen, or Lys-plasminogen by the antiserum, suggesting that the recognized site is involved in the noncovalent interaction of the inhibitor with plasminogen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Characterization of the high-affinity interaction between human plasminogen and pro-urokinase

Activation of human Glu-plasminogen, Lys-plasminogen and low-Mr plasminogen (lacking lysine-binding sites) by pro-urokinase (pro-UK), obtained from a human lung adenocarcinoma cell line (Calu-3, ATCC), obeys Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Activation occurs with a comparable affinity (Km 0.40-0.77 microM), while the catalytic rate constant (kcat) is comparable for Glu-plasminogen (0.0022s-1) and low-Mr plasminogen (0.0034 s-1), but is somewhat higher for Lys-plasminogen (0.0106 s-1). The rate of activation of plasminogen by pro-UK is not significantly influenced by the presence of 6-aminohexanoic acid, purified fragments LBS I or LBS II or histidine-rich glycoprotein, indicating that the high affinity of pro-UK for plasminogen is not mediated via the high-affinity lysine-binding site of plasminogen located in kringles 1-3 (LBS I) nor via the low-affinity lysine-binding site comprised within kringle 4 (LBS II). The site(s) in plasminogen involved in the high-affinity interaction with pro-UK thus appear to be located within the low-Mr plasminogen moiety.     

Human pituitary tryptase: molecular forms, NH2-terminal sequence, immunocytochemical localization, and specificity with prohormone and fluorogenic substrates

A human pituitary-derived serine protease, immunologically identical to human lung tryptase (Smith, T. J., Hougland, M.W., and Johnson, D.A. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 11046-11051), was found immunohistochemically to be associated with mast cells present in pituitary connective tissue. Western blotting combined with sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated the presence of multiple forms: a major Mr 36,300 form and three minor forms with Mr 32,400, 33,400, and 34,600. Two major forms with Mr 35,600 and 34,100 were detected by affinity labeling with 125I-D-Tyr-Glu-Phe-Lys-Arg-CH2Cl. Treatment of the pituitary tryptase preparation with N-glycosidase F indicated that some of the molecular weight heterogeneity results from N-linked glycosylation. The multiple molecular weight forms appear to have the same NH2-terminal sequence: Ile-Val-Gly-Gly-Gln-Glu-Ala-Pro. Pituitary tryptase has an apparent Mr = 110,000 by gel filtration on Sephadex G-200 in the presence of 0.3 M NaCl, indicating that the enzyme may be a tetramer of Mr = 32,400-36,300 subunits. However, this quaternary structure was not stable to gradient polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Human pituitary tryptase was so reactive toward synthetic tripeptide coumarin-containing substrates containing a pair of basic amino acids at the site of cleavage such as benzyloxylcarbonyl-L-Ala-L-Lys-L-Arg-4-methylcoumarin-7-amide (k cat/Km = 2.38 X 10(8) M-1 s-1) that Briggs-Haldane kinetics may apply. The reversible inhibitor NaCl at a concentration of 1 M decreased the k cat/Km for benzyloxylcarbonyl-L-Ala-L-Lys-L-Arg-4-methylcoumarin-7-amide to 6.53 X 10(6) M-1 s-1, which reflected a 100-fold increase in apparent Km. Based on active site titration with fluorescein mono-p-guanidinobenzoate hydrochloride, NaCl had no effect on the number of accessible active sites. Substrate specificity studies with prohormones indicated that pituitary tryptase has a preference for cleaving COOH-terminal to arginine or lysine residues which are preceded by a proline residue 4 or 6 residues NH2-terminal to the site of cleavage.     

Bovine secretory component. Isolation, molecular size and shape, composition, and NH2-terminal amino acid sequence.

Bovine free secretory component was purified from whey by salt precipitation, gel filtration, DEAE-cellulose and phosphocellulose chromatography, and immunoadsorption. It was obtained in immunologically pure form and in 56% yield. The Stokes radius of pure free secretory component was found to be 4.3 nm by gel filtration, and an (see article) of 4.1 S was determined by the ultracentrifuge. The molecular weight was 79,000 by sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis and by sedimentation dquilibrium in the ultracentrifuge, using a v of 0.73 determined by ultracentrifugation in D2O and H2O. A minimal axial ratio of approximately 5 was calculated. Amino acid analysis of bovine free secretory component showed remarkable similarity to that of human, dog, and rabbit but carbohydrate analysis showed significant differences. In contrast to the human, bovine free secretory compoennt has 2 methionine residues/mol. The NH2-terminal sequence was found to be Lys-Ser-Pro-Ile-PPHE-Gly-Pro-Glu-Glu-Val-Asp-Ser-Val. This sequence is identical with that the human and dog. However, the poor immunological cross-reactivity between the dog, human, and bovine proteins suggests that significant structural differences will be found in other regions of the molecule.     

Shape of proteins S3 and S17 from the small subunit of Escherichia coli ribosome.

The shapes of proteins S3 and S17 purified from the 30 S subunit of Escherichia coli A19 were studied by hydrodynamic methods. The proteins have s020,w values of 2.1 +/- 0.1 S and 1.2 +/- 0.1 S and D020,w values of 7.4 +/- 0.5 . 10(-7) cm2/s and 11.4 +/- 0.6 . 10(-7) cm2/s. The respective molecular weights determined by sedimentation equilibrium are 25 800 +/- 500 and 9900 +/- 300. The intrinsic viscosity values for the two proteins are 5.8 +/- 0.3 ml/g and 4.2 +/- 0.2 ml/g. From these hydrodynamic parameters a slightly elongated shape for S3 and a globular shape for S17 have been concluded.     

The AH-site of plasminogen and two C-terminal fragments. A weak lysine-binding site preferring ligands not carrying a free carboxylate function.

Glu-plasminogen [native plasminogen (Glu-1-Asn-790)], Lys-plasminogen [plasmin-cleaved fragment of plasminogen (Lys-77-Asn-790)] and miniplasminogen [fragment of plasminogen (Val-440-Asn-790)] were all found to interact specifically with immobilized 6-aminohexyl ligands. The interactions apparently are mediated by a single weak lysine-binding site, termed the AH-site, as seen from the patterns of inhibition obtained from frontal-quantitative-affinity-chromatography experiments with 6-aminohexanoic acid and alpha-N-acetyl-L-lysine methyl ester as competing ligands. The AH-site, in contrast with the strong lysine-binding site of Glu-plasminogen and Lys-plasminogen, may prefer ligands not carrying a free carboxylate function and therefore may interact with lysine side chains of proteins. In Glu-plasminogen the AH-site is present, but is apparently only partially free to react. It is suggested that it participates in an intramolecular complex and that an equilibrium state between two Glu-plasminogen forms exists. It is further suggested that binding of the plasminogens to fibrin is mainly determined by the AH-site.     

Purification and NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of human thymidylate synthase in an overproducing transformant of mouse FM3A cells

Human thymidylate synthase [EC 2.1.1.45] was purified to homogeneity and its NH2-terminal amino acid sequence was determined taking advantage of the following facts: i) The source of the enzyme was a transformant of mouse FM3A mutant cells which lacks mouse thymidylate synthase but overproduces human thymidylate synthase. ii) The enzyme could be purified on two kinds of affinity column, Cibacron blue dye-bound agarose and methotrexate-bound Sepharose. iii) The enzyme could finally be separated from a trace of impurities by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel containing sodium dodecyl sulfate. The purified human thymidylate synthase had a subunit with a molecular weight of 33,000, as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme was subjected to Edman degradation and the NH2-terminal 24 amino acids were sequenced by successive use of a high-sensitivity gas-phase protein sequencer and high performance liquid chromatography to be as follows: Pro-Val-Ala-Gly-Ser-Glu-Leu-Pro-Arg-Arg-Pro-Leu-Pro-Pro-Ala-Ala-Gln-Glu- Arg-Asp -Ala-Glu-Pro-Arg-.     

The NH2-terminal extension of high molecular weight bFGF is a nuclear targeting signal

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a member of the heparin-binding growth factor (HBGF) family that includes at least seven species. These proteins are potent regulators of a number of cellular processes, including cell division and angiogenesis. Multiple forms of bFGF exist differing only in the length of their NH2-terminal extensions. These species of bFGF also have unique subcellular distributions. The smallest form (18 kD) occurs predominantly in the cytosol, while the higher molecular weight forms (22, 22.5, 24 kD) are associated with the nucleus and ribosomes. Here we report that the nuclear localization of the higher molecular weight forms of bFGF derives specifically from the amino acid sequences within the NH2-terminal extension. This has been demonstrated by constructing a chimeric protein containing the NH2-terminal extension of the highest molecular weight form of bFGF fused to beta-galactosidase (beta-gal). After transfection in a transient expression system, the chimeric protein accumulated in the nuclei of transfected cells, while the wild-type beta-gal was found predominantly in the cytoplasm.     

Structural relationship between "glutamic acid" and "lysine" forms of human plasminogen and their interaction with the NH2-terminal activation peptide as studied by affinity chromatography.

Urokinase digestion of maleinated plasminogen results in cleavage of the single peptide bond Arg-68-Met-69, which is one of the bonds normally cleaved during the first step of the activation procedure. The inactive intermediate compound formed in this way was subjected to NH2-terminal amino acid sequence analysis, which clearly demonstrates the structural relationship between the forms of plasminogen with different NH2-terminal amino acids. It is thus shown that lysine-78 and valine-79 in the "glutamic acid" plasminogen actually are the NH2-terminal amino acids in "lysine" and "valine" plasminogen respectively. The forms with glutamic acid in NH2-terminal position are called plasminogen A, while all other forms lacking the NH2-terminal part of the molecule and which can be activated in a single step are called plasminogen B. By affinity chromatographic studies of the NH2-terminal activation peptide on insolubilized plasminogen B, it was demonstrated that this peptide has specific affinity for plasminogen B. It was also shown that this noncovalent interaction is broken by 6-aminohexanoic acid in two concentration. The tryptic heptapeptide (Ala-Phe-Gln-Tyr-His-Ser-Lys) which occupies the positions number 45 to 51 in the NH2-terminal activation peptide (as well as in the intact plasminogen molecule) is importance for the conformational state of the plasminogen molecule.     

Purification properties and subunit composition of pig heart lipoate acetyltransferase.

Lipoate acetyltransferase [acetyl-CoA: dihydrolipoate S-acetyl-transferase, EC 2.3.1.12], the core enzyme of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, has been highly purified by gel chromatography on Sepharose 6B and sucrose density gradient centrifugation in the presence of potassium iodide. The native enzyme has a sedimentation coefficient (S020,W) of 26.7S and a diffusion coefficient (D020,W) of 1.25 x 10(-7) cm2.-sec-1. The weight-average molecular weight was estimated to be 1.8 million from the sedimentation equilibrium data. The content of right-handed alpha helix in the enzyme molecule was estimated to be about 25% by optical rotatory dispersion and about 22% from the circular dichroism spectra. The enzyme was found to contain about 23 moles of protein-bound lipoic acid per mole of enzyme; some other properties are also reported. Lipoate acetyltransferase dissociated to yield a single subunit with a molecular weight of 74,000 as estimated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate and by gel filtration on Bio-Gel in 6 M guanidine-HCl. The molecular weight was also estimated to be 74,000 from sedimentation equilibrium data in 6 M guanidine-HCl] containing 0.1 M 2-mercaptoethanol. Evidence is presented that 1 molecule of lipoate acetyltransferase apparently consists of 24 very similar subunits, each of which contains NH2-terminal alanine. Each subunit contains 1 molecule of covalently bound lipoic acid.     

Features of the interaction of Glu- and Lys-forms of plasminogen with native and partially hydrolyzed fibrin]

Glu- and Lys-plasminogen interaction with native and desAABB-fibrin obtained from fibrinogen partially hydrolyzed by plasmin was studied. It was found that native fibrin adsorbs 6 times more Lys-plasminogen as compared to the native form of the proenzyme. The range of the Lys-plasminogen binding does not change, if part of the fibrinogen molecules hydrolyze down to X-fragments. At the same time, the appearance in the system of 1% Xi-fragments leads to a 6-fold increase in the Glu-plasminogen binding. The amount of adsorbed Glu-plasminogen reaches the level of Lys-plasminogen adsorption both in the native and partially hydrolyzed fibrin. It was found that kringle K 1-3 or 6-aminohexanoic acid at saturating for high-affinity lysine-binding sites concentrations do not influence the Glu-plasminogen binding to native fibrin but inhibit it when the partially purified form is used. It is assumed that the manyfold increase of the Glu-plasminogen binding to partially hydrolyzed fibrin is due to the alteration of the proenzyme conformation at the initial steps of fibrin hydrolysis during the formation of Xi fragments.     

Primary structure of rat liver dipeptidyl peptidase IV deduced from its cDNA and identification of the NH2-terminal signal sequence as the membrane-anchoring domain

Two forms of dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP) were purified from rat liver plasma membranes: a membrane form (mDPP) extracted with Triton X-100 and a soluble form (sDPP) prepared by treatment with papain. Apparent molecular masses of mDPP and sDPP were 109 and 105 kDa, respectively, when determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The NH2-terminal sequences of the two forms were found to be completely different from each other. For further information on the molecular structure, we constructed a lambda gt11 liver cDNA library and isolated two cDNA clones for DPP, lambda cDP37 and lambda cD5. The 3.5-kilobase cDNA insert of lambda cDP37 contains an open reading frame that encodes a 767-residue polypeptide with a calculated size of 88,107 Da, which is in reasonable agreement with that of DPP (87 kDa) immunoprecipitated from cell-free translation products. Eight potential N-linked glycosylation sites were found in the molecule, accounting for the difference in mass between the precursor and mature forms. Of particular interest is that the deduced NH2-terminal sequence with a characteristic signal peptide is completely identical to that determined for mDPP. In addition, the NH2-terminal sequence of sDPP is identified in the predicted sequence starting at the 35th position from the NH2 terminus. These results indicate that the signal peptide of DPP is not cleaved off during biosynthesis but functions as the membrane-anchoring domain even in the mature form. It is also found that the primary structure thus predicted has striking homology to that of gp 110, a bile canaliculus domain-specific membrane glycoprotein (Hong, W., and Doyle, D. (1987) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84, 7962-7966).     

NH2-terminal processing of Bacillus subtilis alpha-amylase

Mature alpha-amylase of Bacillus subtilis is known to be formed from its precursor by removal of the NH2-terminal 41-amino acid sequence. To study the mechanism of this processing, the extracellular forms of alpha-amylase were analyzed for B. subtilis N7 alpha-amylase cloned and expressed in B. subtilis. The major form (form N34) isolated from log phase cultures in L-broth had an NH2 terminus corresponding to position 34 from the initiator Met but appeared to be microheterogeneous, as judged by native gel electrophoresis. The major forms from stationary phase cultures had NH2 termini at positions 40 (form N40) or 42 (form N42) and were homogeneous. The conversion of the larger to smaller forms could be achieved in culture supernatants or partially purified samples. The process N34----N40 was inhibited by EDTA; N40----N42 was facilitated by Ca2+. Phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride inhibited the former but not the latter process. These results suggest that the signal peptidase cleavage site 30 decreases 35 is -Ala-Ala-Ala-Ser-Ala-Glu-Thr- (arrow or further upstream) and that proteolytic maturation occurs after secretion, which involves at least two different processing enzymes.     

Studies on epsilon-prototoxin of Clostridium perfringens type D. Physicochemical and chemical properties of epsilon-prototoxin.

epsilon-Prototoxin of clostridium perfringens type D consists of one polypeptide chain of 311 amino acids with the following composition: Asp52 Thr31 Ser25 Glu28 Pro12 Gly17 Ala14 Val28 Met5 Ile15 Leu18 Tyr17 Phe8 Lys31 His2 Arg5 Tyr2. It has no free cysteine but contains one blocked cysteine. The N-terminal as well as the C-terminal residue is lysine. The ultracentrifuge pattern gave one single boundary having S020,w = 2.15 S and Do20,w = 5.56-10(-7) cm2/s. Calculation of the molecular weight from D020,w and S020,w gave a value of 34 250. The molecular weight determined from sedimentation equilibrium using ultraviolet optics gave a value of 33 000 +/- 1000. On the other hand molecular weights calculated from a calibrated Sephadex G-100 column in borate buffer was 25 000 and that in sodium phosphate, ionic strength 0.2, was 27 500. This discrepancy between values obtained in the ultracentrifuge and by gel filtration is attributed to adsorption of epsilon-prototoxin by Sephadex.     

On the biological significance of the specific interaction between fibrin,plasminogen and antiplasmin

The influence of antiplasmin on the interaction between fibrin and plasminogen was studied in plasma and in a purified system. The amount of plasminogen bound to fibrin was quantitated using trace amounts of ¹²⁵I-labeled Glu-plasminogen (plasminogen with NH₂-terminal glutamic acid) or ¹²⁵I-labeled Lys-plasminogen (NH₂-terminal lysine).When whole plasma was clotted, 5.2% of Glu-plasminogen was associated with the fibrin clot. In plasma clotted in the presence of 20 mM 6-amino-hexanoic acid only 1.4% of the plasminogen was bound to fibrin, indicating that about 4% of the plasma plasminogen specifically binds to fibrin. With Lys-plasminogen these values were approximately twice as high.When antiplasmin-depleted plasma was used, only slightly higher amounts of both types of plasminogen were associated with the fibrin. The adsorbed plasminogen was not significantly eluted with plasma or with purified antiplasmin at physiological concentrations.These findings indicate that antiplasmin does not play a significant role in the inhibition of the binding of plasminogen to fibrin or the dissociation of the plasminogen · fibrin complex.These observations in conjunction with previous findings on the kinetics of the plasmin-antiplasmin reaction suggest that the lysine-binding site of plasminogen, which is responsible both for its interaction with fibrin and its interaction with antiplasmin, plays an important role in the very fast neutralization of plasmin formed in circulating blood and serves to attach plasminogen to fibrin and thereby sequestrate plasmin formed in loco from circulating antiplasmin.