| Abstract: | Evidence presented demonstrates a covalent attachment of a phospholipid to bovine myelin basic protein. Partial characterization of the phospholipid moiety was performed on myelin basic protein obtained from 32P-phosphorylated whole myelin that was first delipidated by two ether/ethanol (3:2 v/v) extractions, ether extraction, and acetone extraction and then purified by preparative sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The myelin basic protein was precipitated with aqueous acetone and treated with proteases. Treatment with carboxypeptidase Y or trypsin for several hours released a lipophilic fragment, which was purified by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography to yield two "lipopeptides". Such lipopeptides were obtained from both the major and minor myelin basic proteins of rat and bovine brain. Treatment with either mild base or phospholipase C removes the lipophilic character of the peptide fragment. The lipophilic fragment is a substrate for phospholipase D, but it does not comigrate on thin-layer chromatography with any 32P-labeled lipid obtained from myelin incubated with [gamma-32P]ATP. Polyphosphoinositides were shown to be released by mild acid treatment of myelin basic protein that had been extracted with organic solvent and then purified by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Along with the fact that inositol monophosphate was identified in the partial acid hydrolysate of the lipopeptide, we have concluded that polyphosphoinositide (phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate and/or phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate) was the original phospholipid portion of the lipopeptide. |
