Studies on the subunits of human myeloperoxidase

The subunit composition of human myeloperoxidase was studied with the use of sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and gel filtration. The subunit pattern observed depended on the manner in which the enzyme was treated before analysis. Reduction before heat treatment in detergent led to two main protein species (Mr 57 000 and 10 500), whereas reduction during or after heat treatment yielded an additional species of Mr 39 000. Heating without any reductive pretreatment yielded the 39 000-Mr form as the major electrophoretic species. Carbohydrate staining showed large amounts of sugar on the 57 000-Mr species and little on the 10 500-Mr form. Significant amounts of haem were associated with this latter subunit. Haem also seemed to be associated with the 57 000-Mr form but not with the 39 000-Mr one. These three subunit forms were isolated and their amino acid composition analysed. The 57 000-Mr and 39 000-Mr forms had very similar amino acid composition and yielded an apparently identical collection of fragments on incubation with CNBr. Once separated, the subunits could not be interconverted. Generally, minor amounts of other molecular-mass forms were observed. The nature of the various molecular-mass forms originating from myeloperoxidase is discussed.