The third component of complement has been purified from fresh human plasma employing an initial fractionation with poly(ethylene glycol) followed by sequential depletion of plasminogen by affinity adsorbents, chromatography on diethylaminoethylcellulose, gel filtration on agarose, and batch adsorption/desorption on hydroxylapatite. Final recoveries of C3 were 33% of the initial protein, as quantitated by radial immunodiffusion, and 31% of the initial hemolytic activity. Apparent homogeneity is indicated by immunological criteria and by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A partial specific volume of 0.736 +/- 0.003 mlgm-1 was determined for C3 by the mechanical oscillator technique. "Low speed" sedimentation equilibrium yielded an apparent weight average molecular weight for the protein of 187 650 +/- 5650. Based upon this molecular weight, a molar extinction coefficient of 1.82 X 10(5) 1. mole-1 cm-1 at 280 nm was calculated from boundary-spreading experiments in the ultracentrifuge and as assumed refractive index increment. Amino acid analyses revealed no unusual or distinctive characteristics. Automated Edman degradation revealed a double N-terminal sequence, Ser-Val,Pro-Glx,Met-Lee,Tyr-Thr,Ser-Glx,Ile-Lys,Gly-Arg,Thr-Met,Pro-Asx, in agreement with the two chain structure observed on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate, and revealing both chains are available to degradation. Serine is postulated as the initiating sequence in both chains based upon high recoveries of dinitrophenylserine upon hydrolysis of dinitrophenylated C3, and our inability to identify any other dinitrophenyl or phenylthiohydantoin derivatives in this position. Alanine is the ultimate carboxy-terminal amino acid of at least one of the chains, as indicated by the action of carboxypeptidases on C3 in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate.
on Sephadex G-75. On Edman degradation S-UIHcarboxymethylcysteine was released at step 9 and yglutamyl4CJ methylamide was released at step 12. We interpret these data to indicate the presence of an internal thiolester bond in native C3. In addition, evidence is presented for an identical reactive site in a2-macroglobulin. The third component of human complement (C3), is composed of two polypeptide chains, a and 3, bridged by one or more interchain disulfide bonds(1). Cleavage of C3 by the classical pathway convertase (C4b2a), characteristic of the first step in C3 activation, results in the formation of two fragments, a vasoactive peptide (C3a) and a macromolecular fragment (C3b) having an a'f3 chain structure (1-3). C3b participates in both the classical and alternative pathways of complement activation as a subcomponent of the respective C5 cleaving enzymes C4b2a3b (4) and C3bnBb (5-7). A bimolecular complex of activated forms of CS and Factor B (C3bBb) further functions in the alternative pathway as a CS convertase (8).Structural analyses of GMa (9) and the polypeptide chains of CS and C(b (10) have indicated that the probable cleavage site is an Arg-Ser bond at positions 77 and 78 in the a chain. Subsequent modulation of C3b biological activities is affected by the concerted actions of 1,H and C3b inactivator (11) and, further, by additional enzymes acting at specific cleavage sites in the a' chain to produce the CSc, CMd, and CMe fragments (12)(13)(14).Interactions of C3 with cell membranes (15) and carbohydrate polymers (16)(17)(18) The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U. S. C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Treatment of human C3 with hydroxylamine or hydrazine at physiological pH and ionic strength totally abrogates the intrinsic ability of this protein to sustain classical pathway induced hemolysis of sheep red blood cells. Concomitant with the loss of this function the appearance of a single sulfhydryl group can be followed by titration with the sulfhydryl-specific reagents p-(chloromercuri)benzoate, [1-14C]iodoacetamide, 2,2'-dipyridyl disulfide, and 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid). These reagents have also been used to follow the appearance of a free sulfhydryl group on conversion of C3 to C3b with bovine trypsin. Autoradiography of the electrophoretogram of separated alpha-, alpha'-, and beta-polypeptide chains of inactivated, [1-14C]carboxamidomethylated C3 samples has shown that the reactive sulfhydryl group is present in the alpha chain of C3 and in the alpha' chain of C3b, respectively. Digestion of the radiolabeled protein with porcine elastase has localized this sulfhydryl group to a 28 000-dalton fragment of the alpha chain with immunochemical and functional reactivities of the C3d domain. Autoradiographic analysis of a hydrolysate prepared from radioalkylated C3 and subjected to high-voltage paper electrophoresis has shown the labeled amino acid to be [1-14C]-S-(carboxymethyl)cysteine. The susceptibility of native C3 to rapid and irreversible inactivation by nitrogen nucleophiles with the parallel appearance of a cysteinyl residue may indicate the presence of an internal thiol ester. The relationship of the proposed thiol ester to the ability of nascent C3b to acylate cell surface components and carbohydrate polymers is discussed within the context of a transesterification reaction.
The fourth component of human complement (C4) has been purified in 20% yield from fresh plasma using as starting material the 5-12% poly(ethylene glycol) precipitate which had been depleted of plasminogen by an affinity adsorbent. Sequential ion-exchange chromatography on diethylaminoethylcellulose, QAE-Sephadex, and DEAE-Bio-Gel A resulted in C4 homogeneous by immunological criteria and by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the last chromatographic step achieving separation of native from inactivated C4. Reduction with 20 mM dithiothreitol for 2 h at 37 degrees C in 0.25 M 2-amino-2-hydroxymethyl-1,3-propanediol hydrochloride, pH 8.6, effected cleavage of the interchain disulfide bonds. A three-chain structure for C4 was confirmed, and molecular weight estimates of 93 000 +/- 9300, 75 000 +/- 7500, and 30 000 +/- 3000 determined for the alpha, beta, and gamma chains, respectively. The effects of known inactivators of C4 upon the chains of C4 were investigated, confirming that the inactivations by C1s and trypsin were accompanied by the fragmentation of the alpha chain. Inactivation of C4 by hydrazine, on the other hand, produced no detectable change in chain size. Separation of the chains was accomplished by gel filtration in the presence of 1 M acetic acid. Amino acid compositions of native C4 and the constitutive chains have been performed, and N-terminal sequences of the latter established by automated Edman degradation.
The heavy chain of rabbit immunoglobulin G exists in three major allotypic patterns, Aa1-Aa3. A comparison of the amino acid compositions of the heavy chains isolated from immunoglobulin IgG homozygous for each allotypic determinant revealed the presence of an additional methionine residue per chain in the Aa3 allotype relative to the Aa1 and Aa2 allotypes. The position of the additional methionine residue was determined by cyanogen bromide cleavage and by tryptic digestion of the gamma-chains; it coincided with the inter-Fd-Fc area of the chain. Isolation and characterization of the corresponding tryptic peptides of 31 amino acid residues from each of the allotypes showed the presence of a methionine-for-threonine replacement in the Aa3 allotype, but only in about 70-80% of the molecules. No other allotypic variations were seen in this tryptic peptide. Allotypically related variations in composition were also detected in the N-terminal cyanogen bromide-cleavage peptide.
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