Alkylation of cysteine with acrylamide for protein sequence analysis

Alkylation of cysteine in proteins with acrylamide under mildly alkaline conditions yields a thioether derivative, Cys-S-beta-propionamide (Cys-S-Pam), which is stable during automated Edman degradation. Its phenylthiohydantoin derivative, PTH-Cys-S-Pam, is easily separated from other PTH-amino acids by HPLC and is thus useful for cysteine identification during protein sequencing. PTH-Cys-S-Pam was first noticed during sequencing polypeptides blotted onto polyvinylidene difluoride membranes from polyacrylamide gels, in which cysteine had reacted with residual unpolymerized acrylamide. Cysteine in proteins is easily alkylated by reaction of proteins in aqueous solution with acrylamide. Methods are also presented for alkylation of cysteine in proteins adsorbed on fiberglass disks in the reaction cartridge of a protein sequencer. Finally, PTH-Cys-S-Pam was synthesized chemically. The synthetic compound is unstable in neutral solution, but can be stabilized by acidification. It has the same HPLC retention time as the product formed from cysteine when sequencing proteins alkylated with acrylamide.