Isolation of a calcium-sequestering protein from sarcoplasmic reticulum

An acidic protein has been extracted from sarcoplasmic reticulum with KCl and deoxycholate. The protein, which remains soluble after extraction, has been highly purified by fractionation on DEAE-cellulose, Sephadex, and hydroxylaptite. It has a molecular weight of 44,000 and contains 392 amino acid residues per molecule, of which 146 are either glutamic or aspartic acid. No phosphorus, sialic acid, or lipid has been detected in the preparation. The protein has been shown to bind up to 970 nmol of Ca(++) per mg (43 mol/mol) at pH 7.5, with an apparent dissociation constant of 4 x 10(-5) M. Preliminary data indicate that the protein is unique to sarcoplasmic reticulum and that it is hydrophobically bonded on the interior of these vesicles. The protein is believed to play a role in sequestering calcium within sarcoplasmic reticulum. The name Calsequestrin is suggested for the protein.