Purification and characterization of a troponin-C-like protein from bovine adrenal medulla

A low molecular weight protein found in the soluble extract of bovine adrenal medulla, and having a high affinity for calcium ions has been purified to apparent homogeneity. The purification requires three steps, including ammonium sulfate fractionation, ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, and gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. The protein was homogeneous by the criteria of both standard and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, sedimentation velocity analysis, and NH2-terminal analysis. The calcium-binding protein is very acidic and has an isoelectric point of 4.27. Aspartic and glutamic acid together account for 30% of the total amino acid composition. The ultraviolet absorption spectrum reveals a A280/A260 ratio of 0.83 and shows discrete maxima at 258, 264, 269, 278, and 284 nm. Two moles of calcium are bound per mole of protein. The apparent Kp is approximately 20 muM. The molecular weight was found to be 16,000 +/- 1,000 by both sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis and sedimentation equilibrium ultracentrifugation. The protein was found to consist of a single polypeptide chain by the criteria of tryptic peptide mapping and NH2-terminal analysis. Amino acid analysis revealed the absence of tryptophan, single residues of cysteine and histidine, and 2 residues of tyrosine. The protein was void of carbohydrate and phosphate. The structural similarities and possible functional correlation between adrenal medulla calcium-binding protein and troponin-C from muscle tissue are discussed.