Relation between the iodination of human thyroglobulin and the cleavage of the hormone peptide 26K N-terminal

At moderate iodination levels (about 20 iodine atoms/mol) human thyroglobulin yields after reduction and alkylation a hormone (T4)-containing N-terminal peptide of 26K. Further iodination of the thyroglobulin in vitro results in the cleavage of this part of the molecule into smaller peptides of 22K and 18K. A precursor-product relationship between the 26K peptide segment and the latter was established by showing an identical N-terminal T4-containing sequence in the 3 peptides. Cleavage of peptide bonds in the 26K segment to give the smaller fragments could possibly be related to the formation of another hormone residue.