Primary structural analysis of sulfhydryl protease inhibitors from pineapple stem

Pineapple stem acetone powder provides a rich source of the sulfhydryl protease bromelain and of a family of compositionally similar but chromatographically distinct polypeptide inihibtors of this enzyme. The isoinhibitors have molecular weights of 5600, and they contain five disulfide bonds and about 50 amino acids each (Perlstein, S. H., AND Kezdy, F.J. (1973) J. Supramol. Struct. 1, 249-254). Primary structural analysis of one of the seven inhibitor fractions (VII) revealed extensive microheterogeneity. Each of the inhibitor molecules in Fraction VII was shown to be composed of two peptide chains joined by disulfide bonds. These chains, designated A and B on the basis of size, comprise 41 and 10-11 residues, respectively, and the amino acid sequence of one of each are given below: (see article for formular). On the basis of ionization properties and yields of the A and B chains, it would appear that one of the major inhibitor species in Fraction VII is the covalently linked complex of the two chains shown, namely [A-1, B-2]. The second major inhibitor component of Fraction VII is identical in structure with [A-1, B-2i1 except that residues 1 and 8 in the A chain are pyroglutamate and threonine, respectively, and in the B chain glutamine 11 is replaced by arginine. The third inhibitor in Fraction VII is a minor constituent identical with the second, except that residue 1 in the A chain is glutamate rather than pyroglutamate. This microheterogeneity in the inhibitors of Fraction VII is further increased by the fact that B chains may lack threonine 1, in which case they are decapeptides beginning with alanine. On the basis of the striking homology of the cysteine residues with those of other protease inhibitors, it is proposed that the bromelain inhibitors are generated enzymatically from single chain precursors by excision of a "bridge" paptide which links the NH-2 termal A chain to the COOH-terminal B chain.