Isoelectric focusing of human red cell acid phosphatase isozymes

The isoelectric points of human red cell acid phosphatase have been determined by isoelectric focusing. The three homozygous types A, B, and C and the heterozygous type CA have been studied. The isoelectric points of the main isozymes of type A had a higher value than the values found in types B and C. In these two types, the isoelectric points were very similar but the shapes of the elution curves differed. Both the isoelectric points and the shape of the elution curve found in type CA corresponded to a combination of the results found in type A and type C.     

Isoelectric focusing of human red cell phosphoglucomutase (PGM1). Phenotype distribution in the population of Tuscany and two hereditary variants

Summary Phosphoglucomutase (PGM₁) phenotypes were determined in a population sample of Tuscany, Italy, by isoelectric focusing. The frequencies observed for the four alleles are: PGM ₁ ¹⁺ =0.6012, PGM ₁ ^1- =0.1059, PGM ₁ ²⁺ =0.2495, PGM ₁ ^2- =0.0434. Two variants were detected and it was possible to study the parentage of both of them. The pedigree of the propositus of the first variant shows that the variant occurs in combination with the common alleles PGM₁ 1+ and PGM₁ 2+ and that it has an autosomal dominant inheritance. The second variant has been shown to be a product of the PGM₂ locus, although its PAGIF pattern is included between 2- and 1+ isoenzymes.     

Isoelectric focusing of red cell phosphoglucomutase (E.C.:2.7.5.1) at the PGM1 locus in a French-Canadian population

Summary Phosphoglucomutase₁ (PGM₁) polymorphism was studied in a French-Canadian population of Québec city, Canada by means of a low voltage (max 500 V) isoelectric focusing (IEF) procedure on vertical polyacrylamide gel slabs. Frequencies of the four common PGM₁ genes estimated from the phenotype distribution in 308 unrelated individuals were PGM ₁ ¹⁺ , 0.61 (±0.02); PGM ₁ ^1- , 0.13 (±0.01); PGM ₁ ¹⁺ , 0.61 (±0.02); PGM ₁ ^1- , 0.18 (±0.02); and PGM ₁ ¹⁺ , 0.61 (±0.02); PGM ₁ ^1- , 0.08 (±0.01). The segregation patterns observed in 154 families, which included 31 different mating types and 353 children, confirmed a Mendelian inheritance of four autosomal genes. The distribution of the PGM₁ phenotypes observed or expected in a Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was compared with that of other populations. A significant (P<0.001) difference was found between the Québec population and a Black population from Keneba, Gambia, West-Africa.     

Isoelectric focusing studies of human pancreatic secretion

Pure bile, pancreatic and duodenal human juices have been analyzed by isoelectric focusing, either at rest or upon stimulation with caerulein. In rats, stimulation has also been performed with secretin. Twenty bands have been resolved and quantified in the pancreatic secretion. By developing zymograms, a number of isozymes have been identified: 6 isoamylases [pI's 7.2, 7.1 and 6.6 (major) and pI's 7.4, 6.7 and 5.8 (minor)], 3 lipases [pI's 7.0 and 6.8 (major) and 6.4 (minor)], two major alkaline proteases (pI's 9.8 and 8.4) and one major acidic protease (pI 4.3) and one band of RNAase activity (pI 8.6). The stimulation kinetics follow a mechanism according to Palade, indicating uniform response to secretogogues, parallel intracellular transport and parallel discharge of pancreatic exocrine proteins.     

Human phosphoglucomutase locus 1: red cell enzymatic activities associated with common isoelectric focusing phenotypes

Human phosphoglucomutase activity has been determined in red blood cells obtained from 348 unrelated subjects. The mean activities attributed to the four common PGM1 alleles, expressed as micromoles of G6P produced per gram of Hb per hour were 53 for PGMa31, 60 for PGMa11, 61 for PGMa41 and 72 for PGMa21. The relative amount of variation associated with the electrophoretic polymorphism was estimated as 24%.     

Isoelectric focusing of human phosphoglucomutase: data on the distribution of variant phenotypes in three population sample from South West France

Leukocyte lysates obtained from blood specimens of individuals from Central and Western Pyrenean groups (Barèges and Basques) and from the population of Toulouse city have been typed for PGMa1 isozymes using isoelectric focusing (pH range: 3-9.5) in polyacrylamide gels. The determination of usual PGM1 phenotypes was simultaneously performed on red cells by starch gel electrophoresis. Significant differences were found between the three communities. In Barèges samples only 6 of the 10 phenotypes known at PGMa1 locus have been observed. In the same group, 36 mating types were studied in distinct families. The segregation of the phenotypes in an agreement with the codominant inheritance of the alleles. In Basques the gene frequencies showed intermediate values between Toulouse and Barèges. PGMa2 reaches a higher frequency in the latter community (0.306). In the Toulouse population sample the results are comparable with those previously published in western Europeans. The present data provide additional information on the usefulness of the new PGM system detected by isoelectrofocusing in human genetics.     

Isoelectric focusing studies of human red cell PGM1 in Japanese, with special reference to the characterization of PGM17

The distribution of phosphoglucomutase (PGM1) subtypes in human red cells was determined by isoelectric focusing in 218 Japanese samples. Nine common phenotypes were observed corresponding to the following frequencies of the four alleles at the PGM1 locus: PGM11+ 0.6560, PGM11- 0.1170, PGM12+ 0.1674 and PGM12- 0.0505. In addition, a characterization of the PGM17 allele was performed. Our results obtained in the present study revealed the possibility that the PGM17 allele may be differentiated in the two alleles of PGM17+ and PGM17- through an investigation of isoelectric focusing.     

Isoelectric focusing of the human TSH receptor A subunit

The water soluble A subunit of the human TSH receptor has been shown to have an isoelectric point of 5. As both TSH and TSH receptor antibodies have isoelectric points in the region of 8–10, charge-charge interactions must be of major importance in the binding of hormone or antibody to the TSH receptor A subunit.     

Isoelectric focusing studies of human red cell esterase D: Evidence for polymorphic occurrence of a new allele EsD 7 in Japanese

Summary The isoelectric focusing study of esterase D in Japanese revealed evidence of a new polymorphic allele (EsD ⁷) which is difficult to find by conventional starch gel electrophoresis only. A comparison with the occurrence of a subdivision of EsD ² in Caucasians (EsD ⁵) suggests a remarkable difference in allele distribution of esterase D among races. Quantitative analysis showed a relatively low value of enzyme activity for this new allele. It is therefore emphasized that in addition to conventional electrophoresis, enzyme assay and further detection by isoelectric focusing are essential in analyzing the esterase D system.     

Isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide-agarose

A procedure using a 2.5% acrylamide-0.5% agarose gel for slab or tube isoelectric focusing is described. This composite gel is durable and enables a rapid focusing of high-molecular-weight compounds.     

Isoelectric focusing studies of bacteriorhodopsin

Purified bacteriorhodopsin (BR) samples show a minimum of four isoelectric forms in immobilized pH gradient isoelectric focusing gels. The bands occur as doublets with isoelectric points (pI) centered at 5.20 (principal species) and 5.60. In typical preparations additional bands may be observed at 4.90, 5.07 and 5.50. Purple membrane (PM) was proteolyzed with papain to calibrate the pI shift produced by changing the number of charges on the protein. Asp-242 is removed during the first cleavage between residues 239 and 240 resulting in the loss of a single negative charge and a shift of the principal doublet by +0.35 pH units to pI 5.55. The second papain cleavage occurs between residues 231 and 232 which removes Glu-232, -234 and -237 and shifts the pI by +0.60 pH units to pI 6.10. The +0.60 pH shift upon the second papain cleavage is consistent with the loss of two negative charges and is supported by prior evidence that at least one of the three glutamate residues lost during the second proteolysis step is protonated and neutral in the intact protein. The native and proteolyzed products of BR retain the characteristic 550 nm absorption maxima for solubilized BR. A model for the structural origin of the pI heterogeneity of BR species in proteolyzed PM is presented.     

Isoelectric focusing of human head hair proteins. Preliminary research

The examination of human hair keratin to obtain genetic information, which may be useful also in forensic sciences, has been carried out with the use of isoelectrophoretic procedure obtaining considerable evidence for the existence of specific-species patterns. In this paper the keratins extracted from hairs of 280 subjects belonging to Sardinian people (113 males, 167 females, aged from 1 to 89, belonging to 52 families) were analyzed using IEF in thin-layer polyacrylamide gel (0.5 mm) in the pH range 2.5–7.0, followed by the silver staining method. Number, position and colour of the bands were the same in all the analyzed samples but a large individual variability was revealed for the relative intensity of some bands. Differences for a long time storage were not revealed as well hair's sample as protein extract: Neither were differences in the number and position of the bands analyzing samples of hair from several sites of the head of the same individual revealed. The results obtained are a useful indication to continue this research considering the numerous fields of application of this analysis system.     

Isoelectric focusing of cassava protoplasts

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) protoplast was analyzed by using isoelectric focusing techniques. Two populations, representing 68 and 32% of the total sample, with mean isoelectric points of 4.48 and 4.60, were obtained using mesophyll protoplasts. The use of this technique allows demonstration of a discontinuous distribution of protoplast isoelectric point from one species according to their surface potential.     

Isoelectric focusing in Pevikon slabs

A mixture of Pevikon C-870 and Sephadex G-75 superfine is proposed for isoelectric focusing in granular beds. The beds are easy to prepare, and pH gradients are stable for 36 hr under the given conditions. Precise and clean fractionations are obtained with excellent recoveries of focused substances.