Separation of proteolytic enzymes originating from Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) by capillary electrophoresis.

Extracts prepared from Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), mainly consisting of acidic proteolytic enzymes, have been studied with capillary electrophoretic techniques. Approximately 50 repeatable peaks were obtained with capillary zone electrophoresis on an untreated fused-silica capillary using a phosphate buffer containing anionic and cationic fluorosurfactant additives as separation medium. A faster separation was achieved on a polyvinyl alcohol coated capillary. Quantitative variations of individual proteins regarding different krill enzyme batches were noted. In the krill samples trypsin-like serine proteinase, carboxypeptidase A and carboxypeptidase B were tentatively identified.

Region X, the cell-wall-attachment part of staphylococcal protein A.

The sequence of region X of staphylococcal protein A has been determined. The hypothesis has been put forward that this region spans the Staphylococcus aureus cell wall and is responsible for the binding to the peptidoglycan. The primary amino acid sequence of region X was determined for two strains exhibiting cell-wall-bound protein A, Cowan I and 8325-4. The sequence determination of the Cowan I material is partial and was performed by Edman degradation, in contrast to the sequence of the 8325-4 material which was completely analyzed by nucleotide sequencing of the corresponding gene. The region consists of two structurally different domains, a highly repetitive region (Xr), with an octapeptide structure repeated approximately 12 times, and a C-terminal domain (Xc) with an unique sequence. A comparison between the two strains reveals a high mutual homology as well as a high internal homology between the octapeptide structures. Six out of eight amino acids are identical in the repetition of this structure throughout region Xr in both proteins and the other two are changed in a rather regular pattern.

Ion-exchange high-performance liquid-chromatography steps in peptide purifications.

Ion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC; on Ultropac TSK DEAE and CM) is compared with conventional soft-gel ion-exchange chromatography in identical peptide purifications. The results show that separating properties are similar, but as expected, ion-exchange HPLC has a much higher resolving capacity and a higher sensitivity, and allows a considerably shorter total separation time. The same buffer systems as for conventional ion-exchange chromatography can be used, including urea to solubilize large peptides, if care is taken not to exceed the pH limits set by the column matrix. A complete purification scheme by HPLC in the nanomolar range, utilizing exclusion, ion-exchange, and reverse-phase chromatographies, is given with a complex peptide mixture from a digest of a large protein. Similar steps as in conventional soft-gel schemes can be utilized. It is concluded that ion-exchange HPLC is a suitable complement to commonly used reverse-phase HPLC steps and that it permits high speed and sensitivity over wide ranges of peptide sizes and amounts.

The Fc binding regions in protein A are not responsible for the polyclonal B cell activating property of protein A.

To test whether the polyclonal B cell activating property of protein A is due to its ability to bind to the Fc part of immunoglobulins, experiments were carried out with purified monomeric or dimeric Fc-binding fragments of protein A. Neither monomeric nor dimeric fragments induced polyclonal antibody synthesis in vitro, whereas intact protein A was a strong activator. It is concluded that the Fc binding part of protein A is not responsible for activation of polyclonal antibody synthesis.

Crystallization, crystal structure analysis and atomic model of the complex formed by a human Fc fragment and fragment B of protein A from Staphylococcus aureus.

Crystals of the complex formed by human Fc fragment and fragment B (FB) of protein A from Staphylococcus aureus were prepared and the crystal structure determined at high resolution by multiple isomorphous replacement. Phase were improved considerably by combining these phases with calculated phases from the Fc component. FB is a small globular protein built of three parallel helices arranged in a triangular array. It binds by the first two helices of Fc and is attached to segments of CH2 and CH3. The CH3 module is unchanged between complex and Fc fragment crystals, but CH2 changes its position slightly relative to CH3. In addition, the upper third of CH2 is disordered in the complex crystals. Possible sources of this disorder are discussed.

The interaction of protein A and Fc fragment of rabbit immunoglobulin G as probed by complement-fixation and nuclear-magnetic-resonance studies.

Protein-A-Fc-fragment complexes were observed in sedimentation-velocity experiments by ultracentrifugation. The interaction was studied by protein-fluorescence-quenching titrations of the Fc fragment with protein A, allowing the dissociation constant to be determined under a variety of conditions. The first component of the complement pathway, C1, is activated by complexes of protein A with rabbit IgG (immunoglobulin G), and the structural basis for this interaction was studied by using n.m.r. (nuclear magnetic resonance). The four Fc-fragment binding sites on protein A were shown to contain aromatic amino acids, and to be connected by mobile hydrophilic regions. Neither n.m.r. nor proton-relaxation-enhancement studies show evidence of a large conformational change of the Fc fragment on binding protein A, and this suggests that the cross-linking of the Fc fragments may be primarily responsible for the activation of component C1. This is supported by the inability of a univalent tryptic fragment of protein A to activate complement fixation by rabbit IgG.

Structural studies on the four repetitive Fc-binding regions in protein A from Staphylococcus aureus.

The convalent structures of the four highly homologous Fc-binding regions in protein A, regions D, A, B, and C, have been studied by enzymic fragmentations of previously isolated fragments originating from these regions and subsequent isolation of the generated peptides by ion-exchange chromatography, molecular-sieve chromatography, high-voltage paper electrophoresis and paper chromatography. The complete seqeunce of region B was elucidated by combining the results of Edman degradations on isolated fragment B peptides with the previously reported N-terminal seqeunce of the same fragment. Furthermore, Edman degradations of fragments D, A and C peptides differing from the region B sequence provided the structures of subregions not identical to corresponding subregions within region B. Thus, it is possible to propose a highly probably covalent structure for the N-terminal 27000-molecular-weight portion of protein A responsible for the IgG-Fc-binding activities. However, it was not possible to assign the activities to specific structures within the regions. The sequence data indicate that not only mutual homology between the four regions exists, but also internal homologies within the regions. Furthermore, the data strongly supports the hypothesis of a stepwise gene fusion procedure being involved in the evolution of the protein.

Repetitive sequences in protein A from Staphylococcus aureus. Arrangement of five regions within the protein, four being highly homologous and Fc-binding.

After tryptic digestion of intact Staphylococcus aureus the residual portion of protein A that was still bound to the cell wall was cleaved off with lysostaphin. From the two digests Fc-binding fragments were isolated and the following characteristics observed. (a) There are four Fc-binding, highly homologous regions, each consisting of 58--62 amino acid residues. (b) These regions are consecutively arranged from the N-terminal part of the protein. (c) The residual C-terminal part, approximately 150-residues long, differs to a great extent with respect to primary and secondary structures from the four active regions. Furthermore, it is suggested that the protein is bound to the bacterial cell wall structure through this C-terminal part.

Immunologically active and structurally similar fragments of protein A from Staphylococcus aureus.

To study the active site(s) in protein A, partial tryptic digestions of the protein and of intact Staphylococcus aureus were performed. Fragments which bind to the Fc-part of human IgG were isolated by affinity chromatography on IgG-Sepharose 4B and purified by ion-exchange chromatography on phosphocellulose. From a partial tryptic digest of pure protein A at 30 degrees C, pH 8.2 for 30 min we have isolated and characterized six active fragments with molecular weights ranging from 6000 to 8000. Two active fragments, obtained in high yields by digestion at pH 7.2 of intact protein-A-containing bacteria, were shown to be similar to two of the six characterized fragments from the digest of pure protein A. All fragments appeared to have similar amino acid sequences, judged by peptide mapping, specific staining and amino acid analysis; some are very possibly overlapping peptides. Each fragment probably contains only one active site region since all are monovalent in the Fc-reaction when studied with a hemagglutination technique. The maximal molar yield of active fragments obtained from the digestion of pure protein A accounts for about 210% of the amount of protein A used. Thus protein A, suggested to consist of repeating units, should exhibit at least three similar if not identical active regions.