Limited proteolysis of p-chloromercuribenzoate-dissociated hemoglobin by trypsin

p-Chloromercuribenzoate-treated hemoglobin was digested by trypsin. The hydrolysate was subjected to gel-filtration on Bio-Gel P-4 and Sephadex G-50 columns, ion-exchange chromatography on CM-Sephadex and DE 52 columns, and paper electrophoresis. Peptides obtained by this procedure were analyzed for amino acid compositions and amino-terminal amino acid sequences. The results showed that p-chloromercuribenzoate-treated hemoglobin was hydrolyzed to a limited extent by trypsin at the bonds involving the carboxyl group of a lysine or arginine residue in planes A--E in the parent hemoglobin, which represent the external region of the parent tetramer. It is concluded therefore that the slight modification of hemoglobin enhances the susceptibility of the protein to proteases and that the hydrolysis of the modified protein is limited.