Improved procedures for automated liquid phase sequence analyses of protein and peptide

For the sequence analysis of histones rich in lysine, we modified the subprograms for two reagents of a JEOL JAS-47KS protein sequence analyzer. Together with this modification, the use of a synthetic carrier, Polybrene, the minimization of aldehyde contamination in Quadrol buffer, and the introduction of hydrophilic groups into epsilon-N-amino groups of lysine residues, markedly increased the repetitive yield of PTH-amino acids. Tetrahymena histones H3 and H4 were thus sequenced up to residues 104 and 92, respectively, in each consecutive analysis (Hayashi, T., Hayashi, H., Fusauchi, Y., & Iwai, K. (1984) J. Biochem. 95, 1741-1749; Hayashi, H., Nomoto, M., & Iwai, K. (1984) J. Biochem. 96, 1449-1456). The details for these improved procedures and results are described here.