Purification and partial characterization of a cellular retinol-binding protein from human liver

A protein with binding specificity for retinol was purified from human liver. [³H]Retinol was added to liver extracts and the [³H]retinol-binding protein isolated by conventional chromatographic techniques including ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose, gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 and G-50 and preparative isoelectric focusing. The yield was 10–15% in different preparations and the degree of purification was about 3000-fold. The purified protein had a molecular weight of about 15 000 as estimated from both gel filtration and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulphate and was homogeneous in several electrophoretic systems. Isoelectric focusing of the purified protein gave a doublet band. Only one fluorescent band at pH 4.70 was seen if the protein solution was incubated with excess retinol prior to isoelectric focusing. The isolated protein did not react with antiserum to the retinol-binding protein of plasma. The amino acid composition and the amino terminal amino acid sequence for the first sixteen amino acids of the purified protein differed significantly from that of the plasma retinol-binding protein.     

Cellular retinol-binding protein from rat liver. Purification and characterization

Cellular retinol-binding protein has been purified to homogeneity from rat liver. The procedures utilized in the purification included acid precipitation, gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 and G-50, and chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. The binding protein was purified approximately 3,500-fold, based on total soluble liver protein. The protein is a single polypeptide chain with a molecular weight of 14,600 based on information obtained by the techniques of sedimentation equilibrium analysis, gel filtration, and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis. The protein binds retinol with high affinity; the appparent dissociation constant was determined by fluorometric titration to be 1.6 X 10(-8) M. Retinol bound to the protein has an absorption spectrum (lambdamax, 350 nm) considerably altered from the spectrum of retinol in ethanol (lambdamax, 325 nm).     

Purification and partial characterization of cellular retinoic acid-binding protein from human placenta

Cellular retinoic acid-binding protein (CRABP) has been purified to homogeneity from human placenta by a series of procedures, including acetone powder extraction, gel filtration on Sephadex G-50, and ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and on SP-Sephadex. Cellular retinol-binding protein (CRBP) was isolated concurrently. CRABP was purified 75,400-fold, based on total soluble acetone powder extract of placenta. The protein is a single polypeptide chain with a molecular mass of 14,600 Da, estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) gel electrophoresis or gel filtration, and has an isoelectric point of 4.78 (apo-CRABP, 4.82). On analysis of absorption and fluorescence spectra, the protein was seen to exhibit an absorption peak at 350 nm, fluorescence excitation maxima at 350 and 370 nm, and a fluorescence emission maximum at 475 nm. Human CRABP was immunologically distinct from human CRBP and serum retinol-binding protein.     

Identification of a protease inhibitor from rat peritoneal macrophages as poly(ADP-ribose)

Rat peritoneal macrophages contain a chymotrypsin-like protease and its specific inhibitor, both being associated with chromatin of the cells. The inhibitor was separated from the protease by gel filtration through a Sephadex G-75 column, further treated with trypsin, DNase and RNase, and then purified successively on Sephadex G-75, Sephadex G-25, and dihydroxyboryl Bio-Gel P-60 columns. The purified inhibitor had a molecular weight in the range from 2,000 to 3,500 and an absorption maximum at 260 nm at pH 7.0. When the inhibitor was digested by snake venom phosphodiesterase, the inhibitory potency was lost, yielding 5'-AMP and 2'-(5'-phosphoribosyl)-5'-AMP as the digestion products which were identified by high pressure liquid chromatography. The inhibitory potency was neutralized specifically by anti-poly(ADP-ribose) antiserum. The profile of inhibition by the isolated inhibitor was nearly identical with that produced by authentic poly(ADP-ribose). It was therefore concluded that the inhibitor isolated was identical with poly(ADP-ribose), whose chain length ranged from 4 to 7 ADP-ribosyl units. This is the first demonstration that a intracellular protease inhibitor can be endogenous poly(ADP-ribose).     

Purification of human plasma retinol-binding protein by hydrophobic interaction chromatography

Human plasma retinol-binding protein has been purified to homogeneity by a simple method that requires an ammonium sulfate fractionation, a hydrophobic interaction chromatography on phenyl-Sepharose, which dissociates the complex between retinol-binding protein and its carrier, transthyretin, and a gel filtration on Sephadex G-50. The yield of pure protein is comparable or higher than that obtained with the more complex procedures previously reported.     

Studies on Aspergillus Fumigatus; Hydrolysis of Polyamino Acids by Mycelial Filtrate and Chromatographic Fractionation of the Filtrate

Mycelial filtrates from Aspergillus fumigatus (AF), shown to possess haemolytic, toxic, casein precipitating, and protein hydrolyzing activity, hydrolyzed poly-L-lysine and poly-L-glutamine in the pH range 4.6—5.3. Incipient activity against poly-L-lysin was observed at pH 9. Owing to spontaneous hydrolysis of the polyamino acid at pH > 10, no activity optimum could be traced. Gel filtration of mycelial filtrate on Sephadex G-75 or G-100 columns offered no definite information whether the protein hydrolyzing activity, using haemoglobin as substrate, at the optimum pH values, 2.9, 4.6 and 10, shows the activity of a single enzyme with more than 1 pH optimum or of more than 1 enzyme active at different pH values. Certain results of the investigations seem to indicate that the protein hydrolyzing activity at pH 2.9 was not caused by enzymes identical with the enzyme (s) causing the protein hydrolyzing activity at pH 4.6 or pH 10. Casein precipitating and protein hydrolyzing activity occurred, following gel filtration on a Sephadex G-100 column, in identical fractions whereas neither haemolysin nor toxin could be found in samples of 0.5 ml fraction solution from any of the fractions after filtration on Sephadex G-75 or G-100 columns. By using antiserum to a crude filtrate from a homologous AF strain it could be shown, applying immuno-electrophoresis, that dialyzed mycelial filtrate contained 8 precipitating antigens whereas proteinase purified by gel filtration and displaying protein hydrolyzing activity at pH 2.9, pH 4.6 and pH 10 contained 4 such antigens.     

Vitamin A receptors. I. Comparison of retinol binding to serum retinol-binding protein and to tissue receptors in chick retina and pigment epithelium.

1. A simple, efficient three-step method for purification of serum retinol-binding-protein is described with homogeneity obtained after chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex, CM-Sephadex and Sephadex G-100. 2. Evidence is presented indicating that retinol receptors present in the cytosol fraction of chick retina and pigment epithelium are separate and distinct from purified retinol-binding protein. Fluorescence characteristics are different in tissue cytosol and serum as assessed by sucrose density gradient analysis. Tissue retinol receptors do not interact with human serum prealbumin although the prealbumin readily complexes with purified chicken retinol-binding protein. Likewise, no binding to serum retinol-binding protein antibody could be detected by sucrose density gradient analysis, in immunoprecipitation experiments or by double immunodiffusion. It thus appears that specific retinol receptors are present in neural retina and pigment epithelium that are different from serum retinol-binding protein.     

Urinary excretion of retinol-binding protein (RBP) in rabbit chronically poisoned with cadmium. Isolation and partial characterization of rabbit RBP.

Studies were conducted to induce urinary excretion of retinol-binding protein (RBP) in the rabbit by long-term administration of cadmium, and to isolate and characterize rabbit RBP. Two rabbits were exposed to Cd at a dose of 0.8 and/or 1.5mg/kg of body weight by means of subcutaneous injections five times per week. One rabbit excreted large amounts of protein (0.8 to 1.6 g/day) from days 80 to 118. The electrophoretic patterns of the urinary protein showed two fluorescent bands specific for protein-bound retinol in the alpha-region; these were presumed to be RBP. Rabbit RBP was isolated from the pooled urine (10.3 liters) by a sequence of procedures which included gel filtration on Sephadex G-100 and chromatography on DEAE- and SP-Sephadex. Purified RBP (20 mg) was found to be homogeneous by physical and immunological criteria. The RBP had alpha-mobility, with a molecular weight of approximately 20,000. The properties of rabbit RBP resembled those of human RBP simultaneously isolated from the urine of patients with "Itai-Itai" disease in many ways: ultraviolet and fluorescence spectra, and amino acid compositions. A monospecific anti-rabbit RBP antiserum was raised in a goat. There was no immunological cross-reactivity between rabbit and human RBP. The molecular size of the retinol-containing protein in fresh rabbit serum was estimated to be about 60,000 to 70,000 by gel filtration on Sephadex G-200. Rabbit RBP in the serum was also shown to be immunologically identical with purified RBP from the urine.     

A novel anticoagulant protein from Scapharca broughtonii

An anticoagulant protein was purified from the edible portion of a blood ark shell, Scapharca broughtonii, by ammonium sulfate precipitation and column chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A-50, Sephadex G- 75, DEAE-Sephacel, and Biogel P-100. In vitro assays with human plasma, the anticoagulant from S. broughtonii, prolonged the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and inhibited the factor IX in the intrinsic pathway of the blood coagulation cascade. But, the fibrin plate assay did not show that the anticoagulant is a fibrinolytic protease. The molecular mass of the purified S. broughtonii anticoagulant was measured to be about 26.0 kDa by gel filtration on a Sephadex G-75 column and SDSPAGE under denaturing conditions. The optimum activity in the APTT assay was exhibited at pH 7.0-7.5 and 40-45 degrees C in the presence of Ca(2+).     

Purification of the steroid-binding core of porcine estrogen receptor

The steroid-binding core of estradiol receptor was purified from pig uterus cytosol by a protocol consisting of (1) adsorption to heparin-sepharose, (2) enzymatic release of the receptor core, (3) DEAE-chromatography, (4) Sephadex G-150 filtration and (5) chromatography on heparin-sepharose. The final product was approximately 18000-fold enriched over the starting material. It consisted of at least 18% core protein resembling dimeric microsomal receptor with a molecular mass of 75 kDa and an isoelectric point of 5.8 (microheterogeneity). A goat antiserum raised against the preparation contains immunoglobulins G precipitating estradiol-receptor complexes, and antibodies releasing the steroid from its binding site.     

Purification of protein methylase II from human erythrocytes

Protein methylase II (S-adenosylmethionine:protein-carboxyl O-methyltransferase, EC. 2.1.1.24) which methyl esterifies free carboxyl groups of protein substrate using S-adenosyl-L-methionine as the methyl donor, has been purified from human erythrocytes approximately 13000-fold with a yield of 12%. The purified enzyme was over 95% pure as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A bulk of hemoglobin present in the erythrocyte lysate, which severely limited the use of affinity chromatography for purification, was effectively removed by ammonium sulfate precipitation and by the subsequent salt washing of the precipitates followed by molecular sieve chromatography on Sephadex G-75. This preparation can be further purified by affinity chromatography, in which S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine is covalently linked to Sepharose-4B, followed by Sephadex G-75 chromatography to yield an enzyme with an activity of 27000 pmol methyl group transferred/mg/min at 37 degrees C.     

Purification to apparent homogeneity of inactive kallikrein from rat urine

Inactive kallikrein was purified from rat urine by a procedure including ammonium sulfate fractionation, DEAE cellulose chromatography, phenyl-Sepharose CL-4B chromatography, and gel filtration on Sephadex G-100 and Sephadex G-75 columns. The resulting preparation was essentially homogeneous, as assessed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This preparation migrated as a single protein band on a SDS-polyacrylamide gel and the molecular weight was 41000. The purified material underwent marked activation by trypsin, but not by deoxycholate, Triton X-100, SDS or acidification. These results indicate that the purified inactive kallikrein is the precursor rather than a complex with a substance binding to the active form of kallikrein.     

Isolation of Salmonella typhimurium enterotoxin in partially purified form and study of its properties

S. typhimurium enterotoxin, partially purified in accordance with our scheme (salting out with 75% ammonium sulfate, dialysis and gel filtration in a column with Sephadex G-150, followed by electrofocusing), showed enterotoxic activity in the intestinal loop of a rabbit and yielded the positive result in the cutaneous test. S. typhimurium enterotoxin proved to be protein with a molecular weight of 140000 daltons and the isoelectric point equal to 4.4. The biological activity of S. typhimurium enterotoxin was neutralized with homologous antiserum and with antiserum to cholera enterotoxin. Heating the preparation at 75 degrees C for 30 minutes led to a considerable decrease in its enterotoxic activity.     

Isolation of a tripeptide showing weak acetylthiocholine hydrolysing activity from a soluble form of monkey basal ganglia acetylcholinesterase by limited trypsin digestion

Acetylcholinesterase was purified from the soluble supernatant of monkey (Macaca radiata) brain basal ganglia by a three-step affinity purification procedure. The purified enzyme showed two major protein bands corresponding to molecular weights of approximately 65 kDa and approximately 58 kDa which could be labelled by [3H]diisopropylfluorophosphate. When the purified enzyme was subjected to limited trypsin digestion followed by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 or Sephadex G-25 column, a peptide fragment of molecular weight approximately 300 Da having a weak acetylthiocholine hydrolysing activity was isolated. The amino acid sequence analysis of this peptide showed a sequence of Gly-Pro-Ser. When the [3H]DFP labelled enzyme was subjected to limited trypsin digestion and Sephadex G-75 column chromatography, a labelled peptide corresponding to approximately 430 Da was isolated. The kinetics, inhibition characteristics and binding characteristics to lectins of this peptide were compared with the parent enzyme. A synthetic peptide of sequence Gly-Pro-Ser was also found to exhibit acetylthiocholine hydrolysing activity. The kinetics and inhibition characteristics of the synthetic peptide were similar to those of the peptide derived from the purified acetylcholinesterase, except that the synthetic peptide was more specific towards acetylthiocholine than butyrylthiocholine. The specific activity (units/mg) of the synthetic peptide was about 123700 times less than that of the purified AChE.     

Purification and characterization of a murine cellular retinoic acid-binding protein

A cellular retinoic acid-binding protein from 1-day-old mouse pups has been purified to homogeneity. The isolation procedure included gel filtration on Sephadex G-75, ion exchange chromatography on DEAE cellulose, and chromatofocusing on PBE9-4 ion exchange resin. The chromatofocusing step was most useful in removing the major contaminants, which were otherwise difficult to remove. The binding protein was finally subjected to two cycles of high performance liquid chromatography on a DEAE-5PW column to achieve homogeneity. The protein has an isoelectric point of 4.75 and consists of a single polypeptide, migrating with an apparent Mr of 14,600 in SDS--polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Amino-terminal sequence analysis showed that the mouse cellular retinoic acid-binding protein has a high percentage of amino acid identity with other retinoid-binding proteins. However, it is immunologically distinct from the cellular retinol-binding protein.     

Purification and characterization of adenylate kinase isozymes from rat muscle and liver

Isozymes of adenylate kinase (ATP:AMP phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.4.3) were purified from skeletal muscle and liver of rats to essentially homogeneous states by acrylamide gel electrophoresis and sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis. The isozyme from muscle was purified by acidification to pH 5.0, and column chromatography on phosphocellulose, Sephadex G-75 and Blue Sepharose CL-6B, while that from liver was purified by column chromatography on Blue Sepharose CL-6B, Sephadex G-75 and carboxymethyl cellulose. By these procedures the muscle isozyme was purified about 530-fold in 29% yield, and the liver isozyme about 3600-fold in 27% yield from the respective tissue extracts. The molecular weights of the muscle and liver isozymes were estimated as about 23 500 and 30 500, respectively, by both sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis and molecular sieve chromatography, and no subunit of either isozyme was detected. The isoelectric points of the muscle and liver isozymes were 7.0 and 8.1, respectively. The Km values of the respective enzymes for ATP and ADP were similar, but the Km(AMP) of the liver isozyme was about one-fifth of that of the muscle isozyme. Immunological studies with rabbit antiserum against the rat muscle isozyme showed that the muscle isozyme was abundant in muscle, heart and brain, while the liver isozyme was abundant in liver and kidney.     

Highly acidic proteins from human brain: purification and properties of Glu-50 protein

Three extremely acidic proteins were isolated from human brain and purified to apparent homogeneity. One of them, Glu-50 protein, contained much glutamic acid (about 50% of the total amino acids). Its purification involved ammonium sulfate fractionation, DEAE-Sephadex A-50 chromatography, and gel filtration on Sephadex G-100 and G-75. Its molecular weight was determined to be 11,000 by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and 34,000-36,000 by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75, suggesting that it consists of three identical polypeptide chains. Its isoelectric point was pH 3.9. Its N-terminal amino acid sequence was NH2-Asp-Glu-Pro-Pro-Asp-Glu and its C-terminal amino acid was Lys. It contained no detectable carbohydrate.     

Properties of glutathione peroxidase isolated from human plasma

Human plasma glutathione peroxidase (GPx) was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration on Sephadex G-150, chromatography on DEAE Sephacel, chromatofocusing with polybuffer, and gel filtration with Sephadex G-75. This isolation resulted in about 5,400-fold purification of the enzyme with a 32% yield in enzyme activity. The final preparation had a specific activity of about 28 units (mmoles NADPH oxidized) per milligram of protein. Determination of selenium on the purified enzyme revealed a content of 3.8 g atoms per mole GPx. Gel electrophoresis using SDS with standard proteins revealed a molecular weight of about 23,000 for the subunits, which would indicate a molecular weight of about 92,000 for the native enzyme. Amino acid analyses of the purified GPx indicated aspartate, glutamate, proline, glycine, alanine, and leucine as the predominant amino acids and cysteine, methionine, tryptophan, and histidine as the minor amino acids.     

Purification and initial characterization of guinea pig testicular acrosin

Guinea pig (GP) acrosin was purified following acid extraction of testicular acetone powder, pH precipitation of the soluble extract, gel filtration on Sephadex G-100, ion-exchange chromatography on SP-Sephadex, and affinity chromatography on Concanavalin A-Sepharose. Final purification was achieved by re-chromatography on Sephadex G-100. Enzymatic activity was detected by following the hydrolysis of N-benzyloxycarbonylarginyl amide of 7-amino-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin at 37 degrees C, pH 8.0, before and after activation. GP testicular acrosin exhibited a molecular weight of 48,000 by gel filtration and 34,000 by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Following SDS-PAGE in gels containing 0.1% gelatin, protease activity was observed to comigrate with the major protein detected by silver staining. The purified GP acrosin showed cross-reactivity with a monospecific polyclonal rabbit antiserum directed against boar sperm acrosin and exhibited reversible pH-dependent activation. The physiochemical characteristics of the purified protein, including the amino acid composition, resemble those reported for acrosins from other species.     

Isolation and characterization of a neurophysin from ostrich neurohypophyses

A neurophysin has been isolated from ostrich neurohypophyses using acid acetone extraction, salt fractionation and Sephadex G-75 chromatography. The crude neurophysin eluting from the Sephadex G-75 column was subjected to a) reverse-phase HPLC followed by Sephadex G-75 chromatography, b) DEAE-Sephadex A-50 chromatography or c) isoelectric focusing. The different homogeneous ostrich neurophysin fractions so obtained were compared i.t.o. amino acid composition, spectral properties, N-terminal amino acid residues and PAGE. They all revealed a single N-terminal Ala residue and displayed spectral properties (A280/A260 less than 1) which are typical of mammalian neurophysin-like polypeptides. Ultracentrifugation studies on purified ostrich neurophysin over a range of concentrations revealed a reversible concentration dependent association behaviour characterized by the presence of dimeric complexes at higher concentrations. Partial sequencing from the N-terminus revealed the molecule to be VLDV-like. The purified molecule was also submitted to CNBr fragmentation.