Sequence studies on the maltose-binding protein of Escherichia coli

The amino terminal sequence of the maltose-binding protein as well as the leader region were reported earlier [2]. The amino acid composition of the protein indicated that the protein has no cysteine and very few methionine, arginine and histidine residues. In contrast, the residues of lysine, alanine and aspartic acid (or asparagine) account for about a third of the approximately 360 amino acid residues in the protein. Five cyanogen bromide peptides ranging in size from 10 to 154 residues have now been isolated by Sephadex G50 and G100 gel filtration. These five peptides account for the whole protein. Sequence determination of these fragments as well as of others has now been initiated.