Comparison of the primary structures of clathrin light chains from bovine brain and adrenal gland by peptide mapping

The structures of the polymorphic forms of clathrin light chains were analyzed by two peptide mapping procedures. Comparison of the products of partial digestion by V8 protease showed no common peptides between LCA and LCB from bovine brain. No similarities between clathrin light chains and tropomyosin chains from bovine brain and skeletal muscle were detected with this technique. The peptides produced by complete tryptic digestion of LCA and LCB from bovine brain and bovine adrenal gland were analyzed by reverse phase h.p.l.c. For both LCA and LCB the polypeptides from different tissues showed considerable homology. LCA from brain and adrenal gland shared 10 out of a total of 15 peptides. LCB from brain and adrenal gland shared 10 out of 14 peptides. In contrast, when LCA was compared with the LCB chain from the same tissue very few peptides were shared; 4/23 for brain and 3/21 for adrenal gland. These results strongly indicate that, within a tissue, LCB is not related to LCA by post-translational processing and that each chain is encoded by a separate gene. The data also demonstrate the close homology of the different forms of LCA and LCB expressed in different tissues within the same organism. Thus the polymorphic differences of clathrin light chains within a tissue are greater than those between tissues.