Reaction of bovine and equine growth hormones with tetranitromethane.

Bovine and equine growth hormones were chemically modified with tetranitromethane, at pH 7.4 during 5 h and at pH 8.0 in the presence of 8 M urea during 1 h. a) Both hormones have very similar but not identical reactivities. b) The nitration of the reactive tyrosines and tryptophan residues at pH 7.4 produces no detectable changes in their immunological or somatotrophic activities. C) The nitration of all tyrosine residues in both hormones gives rise to a complete loss of somatographic activity with no alteration of the immunological activity.     

Reaction of tetranitromethane with lutropin, oxytocin, and vasopressin.

Tetranitromethane reaction with intact ovine lutropin and its isolated subunits was studied using spectrophotometric measurements, amino acid analysis, and isolation of tyrosyl peptides. Tyrosyl residues in the beta subunit (beta37, beta59) did not react with tetranitromethane in the intact hormone, but were nitrated in the isolated subunit. The sequence and extent of reaction of tetranitromethane with the tyrosyl residues in the alpha subunit was alpha21 = alpha92 = alpha93 (in intact hormone or isolated subunit) greater than alpha 41 (reacted in isolated subunit only) greater than alpha 30 (reacted in isolated subunit in 8 M urea only). Polymerization was observed as a side reaction in agreement with previous studies. The degree of polymerization appeared to be related to both primary sequence and tertiary structure, and for lutropin had the relation: alpha subunit (93% polymerized) greater than intact hormone greater than beta subunit (less than 40%). Polymerization observed with vasopressin was significantly greater than with oxytocin; for these peptides the tyrosine residues in the monomeric product were converted to 3-nitrotyrosine. Neither 3-nitrotyrosine nor tyrosine was detected in the polymerized by-products. In the tetranitromethane reaction with intact ovine lutropin, other reaction products charcterized by absorption spectra were found. Peptides isolated from these products lacked the characteristic 428 nm abosrption maxima of 3-nitrotyrosyl peptides and showed instead absorption in the 310 to 350 nm region. Similar products from tetranitromethane reactions with di- and tripeptides containing tyrosine have been observed previously (Boyd, N.D., and Smith, D.B. (1971) Can. J. Biochem, 49, 154-161), but they have not been studied in proteins. A possible relationship to the polymerization side reaction is suggested.     

Studies on deoxyribonucleoproteins. IX. Subfractions of deoxyribonucleoproteins from rat and mouse liver.

By carrier-free continuous electrophoresis, deoxyribonucleoprotein from rat and mouse liver could be separated into two subfractions. The more anodic fraction (DNP I), comprising 5 - 8 per cent of the total, contains fewer proteins (two types of histones only). [3H]Cyclophosphamide caused in vivo a 2.5 times higher alkylation of the DNA in in DNP I than of the DNA in DNP II. These and additional results led to the suggestion of a structural model with DNP I as a spacer in the deoxyribonucleoprotein fiber.     

Reaction of human chorionic somatomammotropin and human pituitary growth hormone with tetranitromethane at 0 degrees C

The comparative reactivity of the eight tyrosine residues which occur at homologous positions in human chorionic somatomammotropin and human pituitary growth hormone has been investigated by their reaction with tetranitromethane at 0 °C. The derivatives were characterized by circular dichroism spectra, spectrophotometric titrations, rate of tryptic digestion, and immunodiffusion. Pigeon crop-sac stimulating activities were fully retained in these derivatives. The extent of modification for human chorionic somatomammotropin and human pituitary growth hormone was 2.5 and 4.2 out of 8 residues, respectively. The location of each modified tyrosine residue in the derivatives was determined by amino acid analysis of isolated nitrated peptides after cyanogen bromide cleavage and enzymatic digestion. It was found that tyrosine-143 was highly reactive in the pituitary hormone but unreactive in the placental hormone.     

Characterization of glycine-extracted calf thymus deoxyribonucleoproteins

• 1.1. Calf (Bos bovinus) thymus deoxyribonucleoproteins are isolated by a glycine extraction procedure, and characterized in terms of homogeneity, conformation and composition.
• 2.2. The results show that the extracted deoxyribonucleoprotein is a homogeneous, high molecular weight complex of basic protein and deoxyribonucleic acid.