Edith Foglizzo

Amino acid sequence of horse colipase b

The complete sequence of the 96 residues composing horse colipase B has been determined by automated analysis of the intact protein, of two CNBr peptides and two tryptic peptides arising, respectively, from the citraconylated chain and from the unreduced protein. The single histidine of the protein is located at position 29 as in horse colipase A. His86, present in the C-terminal region of the pig cofactor and supposed to play a role in the folding molecule, is not conserved in horse B. Large pieces of the pig and horse B chains were found to be identical or very similar, especially the N-terminal sequence and the central segment Ala49-Cys65 including the three tyrosines of the molecule. The four lysines and the ten half cystines are also conserved.

Direct involvement of the C-terminal extremity of pancreatic lipase (403–449) in colipase binding

After a selective cleavage of a lipase/colipase cross-linked complex, the colipase has been shown to be bound to a 5 kDa lipase fragment identified as the C-terminal extremity of the chain extending from residue 403 to the C-terminus (Cys 449). The colipase binding site on lipase is therefore localized in a restricted contact area. Moreover, from sequence comparison of lipase from various species, an acidic residue, Glu 440, is likely to be involved in ion pairing with colipase.

Primary structure of the activation peptide from bovine pancreatic procarboxypeptidase A

The complete sequence of the 94 residues composing the activation peptide of bovine procarboxypeptidase A has been determined by automated analysis of the intact activation segment and of three peptides resulting from enzymatic cleavages of the isolated peptide. The sequencing of a CNBr peptide isolated from procarboxypeptidase A allowed to connect the activation peptide with alpha-carboxypeptidase A (peptidylprolyl-L-amino-acid hydrolase, EC 3.4.17.1). The activation segment has a high content of acidic residues and a proline-rich region. Conformational prediction studies show that the bovine peptide, as the porcine and rat peptides, contains a high proportion of secondary structure and that the structural disposition of the regions in secondary structure is similar in the three peptides. The comparison of the sequence of the bovine, porcine and rat peptides, although exhibiting a striking homology, clearly shows that 40% of the substitutions have led to a charge change.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray study of subunit III of the bovine pancreatic procarboxypeptidase A-S6 ternary complex

Subunit III of the bovine pancreatic procarboxypeptidase A-S6 ternary complex was dissociated from the complex, purified and crystallized using the hanging- or sitting-drop method of vapour diffusion, with ammonium sulphate as the precipitant. The assays were carried out at pH 4.2 (20 mM-acetate buffer). An X-ray examination of the crystals shows that they are monoclinic, with a space group P21 and cell dimensions a = 47.9 A, b = 61.3 A, c = 39.0 A and beta = 95.0 degrees. The asymmetric unit contains one molecule of 25,800 Mr. The crystals are suitable for structure determination to at least 2.8 A resolution.