Studies of disulfide bond location in ovine lutropin beta subunit

By combinations of selective chemical cleavage (cyanogen bromide), selective enzymatic cleavage (trypsin, thermolysin), and random cleavage (partial acid hydrolysis) a series of disulfide-containing peptides have been isolated from ovine lutropin beta subunit. These peptides suggest six disulfide linkages between half-cystine residues in positions 23-72, 26-110, 93-100, 34-88, 9-90, and 38-57. The latter pair was placed by elimination of other possibilities. The first three pairs are in agreement with a report by Chung, D., Sairam, M. R. and Li, C. H. (1975) Int. J. Peptide Protein Res. 7, 487-493; the pair 93-100 has also been detected by Reeve, J. R., Cheng, K. W. and Pierce, J. G. (1975) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 67, 149-155, using partial reduction and alkylation. In an attempt to improve the efficiency of enzymatic attack, a preliminary partial reduction as per Reeve et al. [16] was done. In this instance a peptide suggesting an additional disulfide linkage between half-cystines 23-26 was obtained as well as peptides consistent with the 23-72 and 26-110 placements. This was interpreted as an artifactual opening and recombining during partial reduction-reoxidation to produce the 23-26 linkage. The placement of three disulfide bonds (34-88, 9-90, and 38-57) is in disagreement with the pairings Chung et al. [15] suggest for these six half-cystine residues. Six reasons for uncertainty in the placement of disulfide bonds are discussed. It is concluded the definitive placement of the disputed three disulfide bonds in ovine lutropin beta subunit remains an open question.