Cockroach larval-specific protein, a tyrosine-rich serum protein

Larval-specific protein (LSP) is the most abundant protein in the hemolymph of cockroaches shortly before molting, but is rapidly cleared from the hemolymph during the molt (Kunkel, J. G., and Lawler, D. M. (1974) Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 47B, 697-710). Blatta orientalis LSP was purified by sedimentation in preparative sucrose gradients followed by 2-hydroxypropylamino-cellulose anion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration on a column of Bio-Gel A-1.5m. The amino acid composition of LSP includes 16.3 mol % tyrosine and 4.9 mol % phenylalanine, but virtually no cysteine and little methionine. The following physical properties were determined for LSP: R8 = 68.3 A, 8(20),w = 17.8, and V = 0.723. From these values an Mr = 507,900 was calculated. In electron micrographs, LSP appears as rectangular particles of 121 by 134 A. In disc polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, native LSP exhibits a single band, but in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, LSP is resolved into a doublet of closely spaced bands of Mr = 88,100 and 84,400 present in a ratio of 1.38:1. These data indicate that native B. orientalis LSP is a hexamer of subunits averaging approximately Mr = 86,000. Crossed immunoelectrophoresis of Blattella germanica larval serum indicates that LSP in that species is a hexamer composed of a random assortment of two subunits of different charge in the ratio 1.25:1. The amino acid composition and physical properties of LSP suggest that LSP may be the hemimetabolous analogue of the tyrosine- and phenylalanine-rich storage proteins of holometabolous insects.