PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

W F Brandt

Publications and source records attributed to W F Brandt.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Total solid-phase synthesis and prolactin-inhibiting activity of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone precursor protein and the gonadotropin-releasing hormone associated peptide.

The human gonadotropin-releasing hormone precursor protein, pHGnRH (Met-23-Ile69) (preproGnRH), and three of its fragment peptides, pHGnRH (Asp14-Ile69) (gonadotropin-releasing hormone associated peptide--GAP), pHGnRH (Phe38-Ile69), and pHGnRH (Ser47-Ile69), were assembled in a stepwise solid-phase cosynthesis employing Boc/Bzl tactics and an optimized acylation schedule which included recoupling steps with hexafluoro-2-propanol to help overcome the aggregation of the pendant peptide chains of the peptidoresin during difficult couplings. Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) purification yielded products which were characterized by analytical reversed-phase HPLC, ion-exchange chromatography, capillary zone electrophoresis, SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and ion-spray mass spectrometry to reveal a high degree of homogeneity. Biological characterization demonstrated that only GAP stimulated luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone release from primary cultures of rat anterior pituitary cells, while GAP, pHGnRH (Phe38-Ile69), and preproGnRH all inhibited prolactin release, with the latter being the most potent at concentrations comparable to bromocryptine. However, only GAP and pHGnRH (Phe38-Ile69) were able to displace a labeled gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist from binding to rat pituitary membrane preparations. This first demonstration of significant biological activity with a precursor protein also suggests that the gonadotropin-releasing and prolactin release-inhibiting functions of GAP are not mediated through the same pituitary receptors.

Amino Acid Sequence

Bitis arietans nerve growth factor is a disulphide-linked homodimer.

1. Nerve growth factor from Bitis arietans venom was isolated in high yield and purified to homogeneity using a rapid two-step procedure involving gel exclusion chromatography and reversed-phase HPLC. 2. On polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in SDS, the NGF migrates as a 25 kDa homodimer and is thus atypical of other Viperid NGFs. 3. Evidence suggests that, unlike mammalian beta NGFs, the subunits of the Bitis arietans homodimer are covalently linked by a disulphide bond(s). 4. Partial sequence analysis shows that only 6 out of the first 21 amino acids are identical with those of cobra NGF including cys-14 and val-21 which are known to be important for NGF activity.

Amino Acid Sequence

Human serum amyloid A protein. The assignment of the six major isoforms to three published gene sequences and evidence for two genetic loci.

Serum amyloid A protein (apo-SAA) is an acute-phase reactant and an apolipoprotein of high density lipoproteins (HDL). Six major isoforms of apo-SAA occur in humans (pI 6.0, 6.4, 7.0, 7.4, 7.5, 8.0). In this report we have rationalized the phenotypic expression of apo-SAA isoforms with published apo-SAA structures predicted from apo-SAA cDNA's pA1 and pSAA82 and the genomic DNA SAAg9. The six apo-SAA isoforms fall into three pairs, pI 6.0/6.4, 7.0/7.5, and 7.4/8.0, which are products of cDNA pA1, cDNA pSAA82, and genomic DNA SAAg9, respectively. The second of each isoform pair (i.e. pI 6.4, 7.5, and 8.0) is the "primary" product: a 104-residue peptide with the NH2-terminal sequence Arg-Ser-Phe-Phe. Each primary product is processed either to a major 103-residue peptide with the NH2-terminal sequence Ser-Phe-Phe or processed to a minor 102-residue product which results from the loss of both an Arg and a Ser residue from the NH2 termini. These "secondary" products have the lower pI values of 6.0, 7.0, and 7.4, respectively. The isoelectric points of the SAAg9 products were confirmed by expression of SAAg9 in transfected mouse L-cells. Both the pI 8.0 and 7.4 isoforms were present in cellular extracts, suggesting that post-translational modification of apo-SAA may occur intracellularly. However, the greater relative abundance of the pI 7.4 isoform extracellularly suggests that the major conversion may occur after secretion. Whereas the gene corresponding to the pA1 cDNA sequence does not show allelic variation, the segregation characteristics of the pI 7.0/7.5 and 7.4/8.0 isoform pairs amongst individuals suggests that these isoforms are the products of genes (with sequences corresponding to pSAA82 and SAAg9, respectively) which are allelic variants at a single locus distinct from that for the pI 6.0/6.4 isoform pair.

Amino Acid Sequence

The amino acid sequence of wheat histone H2B(2). A core histone with a novel repetitive N-terminal extension.

Two of the four electrophoretic histone H2B variants present in wheat embryos have been isolated. The complete primary structure of the H2B(2) variant has been deduced from sets of overlapping peptides generated by CNBr cleavage, Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease, endoproteinase Arg-C, the post-proline cleaving enzyme, chymotrypsin and cleavage in dilute acid. A minimum of 17 peptides were required to establish the sequence. This variant has a blocked N terminus and comprises a total of 149 amino acids. The C-terminal two-thirds of the protein are highly homologous to vertebrate H2B. In contrast, the N-terminal third is entirely different and contains an N-terminal extension of 23 residues in which the sequence Ala-Glu-Lys or variants are repeated several times. This region is also highly homologous to the H2B from Tetrahymena pyriformis. It shows in addition similarities to wheat H2A(1) and bovine H1.

Amino Acid Sequence

The primary structure of the histone H2A(2) type from wheat germ. A core histone type with both, N-terminal and C-terminal extensions.

The histone H2A(2) type from wheat germ comprises at least two highly homologous isohistones with 151 amino acid residues. Microheterogeneity occurs mainly at the N-terminal and C-terminal regions. These isohistones have both N-terminal (7 amino acid residues) and C-terminal (15 amino acid residues) extensions relative to calf thymus histone H2A.

Amino Acid Sequence

Manual gas-phase isothiocyanate degradation.

We describe a manual gas-phase isothiocyanate degradation procedure for the primary structure determination of proteins and peptides. The proteins and peptides are applied to a polybrene-coated glass fiber filter wedged into a small glass column. The phenylisothiocyanate is directly pipetted onto the filter disk. The coupling and cleavage reactions are performed in small desiccators containing trimethylamine and trifluoroacetic acid vapors, respectively. The wash and extraction steps are performed by allowing the suitable solvents to percolate through the filter disk. The extracted anilinothiazolinone is then converted to the phenylthiohydantoin and identified by any one of a number of described methods. Our results show that this method is very sensitive and that the reactions proceed faster than those of the published automated procedure. No expensive equipment is required and the manual degradation can be performed by a laboratory assistant. A large number of samples can be simultaneously subjected to the degradation under identical conditions, making this an ideal method for physicochemical investigations into the isothiocyanate degradation. We also use this method to screen HPLC fractions after enzymatic protein fragmentation. Manually sequenced glass filters can be transferred to the automated instrument for more extended degradations.

Amino Acid Sequence

The primary structure of histone H3 from wheat.

Wheat embryo histone H3 has been isolated and purified and the elucidation of the complete amino-acid sequence is described. Peptides were generated by cleavages with CNBr, S. aureus V8 proteinase, endoproteinase Lys-C and trypsin. The peptides were purified by HPLC and the sequence determined by solid-state and gas-phase sequencing methodology. The amino-acid sequence of the protein is identical to pea embryo histone H3 and the sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence of a wheat embryo histone gene (Tabata T. et al. (1984) Mol. Gen. Genet. 196, 397-400).

Amino Acid Sequence

Plant histone 2 from wheat germ, a family of histone H2a variants. Partial amino acid sequences.

1. The 0.5 M perchloric acid extract prepared from chromatin of wheat germ, Triticum aestivum, contains a group of histones formerly called plant histones. These can be resolved by gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-60 with subsequent CM-cellulose ion-exchange chromatography into five histone fractions containing families of histones H2A and H2B. 2. The partial amino acid sequences of histone H2A variants H2A(1)Triticum, H2A(2)Triticum and H2A(3)Triticum are presented. Extensive sequence homology exists between calf thymus histone H2A and wheat embryo H2A histones. Differences are largely due to conservative amino acid substitutions and in two of the variants, viz. H2A(2) and H2A(3) to N-terminal extensions of the polypeptide chains.

Amino Acid Sequence

A histone programme during the life cycle of the sea urchin.

The histone complement of chromatin from early gastrula, late gastrula and from fully differentiated gut cells of the sea urchin Parechinus angulosus has been fractionated by molecular sieve and ion-exchange chromatography. Several of the subfractions thus isolated have been characterized by amino acid composition and partial amino acid sequences as a series of variants of the histones H1, H2A and H2B. Specific histone variants are present in chromatin at specific stages of differentiation.

Amino Acid Sequence

The complete amino-acid sequence of histone H2B from the mollusc Patella granatina.

1. From the marine mollusc, Patella granatina, a histone has been isolated. Its primary structure has been established and it has been designated histone H2Bpatella. It consists of a polypeptide chain of 121 amino acids. 2. In the carboxy-terminal two thirds of the molecule there is a highly degree of sequence homology to the corresponding region in calf histone H2B with identical residues in 95% of the positions. 3. In the N-terminal 22 amino acids histone H2Bpatella differs considerably from the mammalian histone H2B and it is shorter by four residues.

Amino Acid Sequence

A histone H2B variant from the embryo of the sea urchin Parenchinus angulosus.

A variant of histone H2B has been isolated from sea urchin embryo (Parenchinus angulosus). Out of the 53 amino acids positioned in the three CNBr-peptides only 26 residues are identical to those in the corresponding positions of calf thymus histone H2B. A similar degree of homology exists between the embryonic variant and the previously characterized variants from sperm cells of the same organism.

Amino Acids

The partial amino acid sequences of the two H2B histones from sperm of the sea urchin Psammechinus miliaris.

Two new histone H2B variants have been isolated from sperm cells of the sea urchin Psammechinus miliaris. They have been designated sperm histone H2B(1) Psammechinus and sperm histone H2B(2) Psammechinus. Both histones are highly homologous to the previously described sperm histones from Parechinus angulosus (Strickland et al. (1977) Eur. J. Biochem. 77, 263--275 and 277--286). The amino acid sequences of the Ps. miliaris sperm histones, though highly homologous, are not identical to the amino acid sequence derived from the codon sequence of a histone H2B gene, characterized from the same organism by Birnstiel et al. ((1977) Nature 266, 603--607).

Amino Acid Sequence

The complete amino-acid sequence of histone H2B(3) from sperm of the sea urchin Parechinus angulosus.

The primary structure of a third H2B histone isolated from sperm of the sea urchin Parechinus angulosus has been determined. H2B(3) consists of a polypeptide chain of the following 148 amino acid residues: Pro-Arg-Ser-Pro-Ala-Lys-Thr-Ser-Pro-Arg-Lys-Gly-Ser-Pro-Arg-Lys-Gly-Ser-Pro-Arg-Lys-Gly-Ser-Pro-Ser-Arg-Lys-Ala-Ser-Pro-Lys-Arg-Gly-Gly-Lys-Gly-Ala-Lys-Arg-Ala-Gly-Lys-Gly-Gly-Arg-Arg-Arg-Arg-Val-Val-Lys-Arg-Arg-Arg-Arg-Arg-Arg-Glu-Ser-Tyr-Gly-Ile-Tyr-Ile-Tyr-Lys-Val-Leu-Lys-Gln-Val-His-Pro-Asp-Thr-Gly-Ile-Ser-Ser-Arg-Ala-Met-Ser-Val-Met-Asn-Ser-Phe-Val-Asn-Asp-Val-Phe-Glu-Arg-Ile-Ala-Ser-Glu-Ala-Ser-Arg-Leu-Thr-Ser-Ala-Asn-Arg-Arg-Ser-Thr-Val-Ser-Ser-Arg-Glu-Ile-gln-Thr-Ala-Val-Arg-Leu-Leu-Leu-Pro-Gly-Glu-Leu-Ala-Lys-His-Ala-Val-Ser-Glu-Gly-Thr-Lys-Ala-Val-Thr-Lys-Tyr-Thr-Thr-Ser-Arg. H2B(3) Parechinus closely resembles HIB(2) Parechinus but has one additional repeating pentapeptide in the amino-terminal region and a serine replacing glycine at position 98.

Amino Acid Sequence

Histone H2B variants from the erythrocytes of an amphibian, a reptile and a bird.

Histones H2B have been isolated from the terminally differentiated diploid erythrocytes of three different classes, amphibia (Xenopus laevis), reptilia (Crocodilus niloticus) and aves (Gallus domesticus). Partial amino acid sequences revealed three regions of sequence variation, each variant involving a single amino acid substitution.

Alligators and Crocodiles