The amino acid sequence of dromedary pancreatic ribonuclease

Dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) RNAase (ribonuclease) was isolated from pancreatic tissue by affinity chromatography. Peptides obtained by digestion with different proteolytic enzymes and CNBr were isolated by gel filtration, preparative high-voltage paper electrophoresis and paper chromatography. Peptides were sequenced by the dansyl-Edman method. All peptide bonds were overlapped by one or more peptides. The polypeptide chain consists of 123 amino acids. A deletion (position 39) was observed in an external loop of the polypeptide chain (residues 35-40), as was found earlier to horse RNAase (Scheffer & Beintema, 1974). A heterogeneity was found at position 103 (glutamine and lysine). Dromedary RNAase differs at 23-32% of the positions from all other pancreatic RNAases sequenced to date. In evolutionary terms this indicates that dromedary RNAase has evolved independently during the larger part of the evolution of the mammals. Detailed evidence for the sequence has been deposited as Supplementary Publication SUP 50046 (14 pages) at the British Library (Lending Division), Boston Spa, Wetherby, W. Yorks. LS23 7BQ, U.K., from whom copies may be obtained on the terms given in Biochem. J. (1975) 145, 5.