JBC, Vol. 254, Issue 11, 4335-4338, Jun, 1979
Proton nuclear magnetic resonance studies on bovine lutropin, its subunits, and on the alpha subunit of pregnant mare serum gonadotropin. Assignment of histidine resonances in the alpha subunit
F. F. Brown, T. F. Parsons, D. S. Sigman and J. G. Pierce
The pK values of the 3 histidine residues in the common alpha subunits of
bovine and equine glycoprotein hormones have been determined from titration
curves generated from their C-2 proton nuclear magnetic resonances at
different pH values. Assignment of resonances to specific histidines is
based on a comparison between the two species, which have 1 histidine
residue in different positions in their sequences, and of the bovine alpha
subunit after removal of its histidine 94 by treatment with
carboxypeptidases. In both species, those histidines closest to the COOH
terminus titrate with near normal pK values of 6.2. The histidine residue
found in the bovine subunit at position 87 titrates with an approximate pK
value of 5.4. Histidine 83, adjacent to an oligosaccharide moiety in both
species, does not titrate over a pH range of 4.0 to 8.0 and thus appears
inaccessible to solvent. Similarly, in bovine lutropin-beta, 1 of 3
histidine residues does not titrate between pH 5.0 and 7.0. In the intact
hormone, 2 "nontitratable" histidine residues are found. Changes in the
characteristics of the signals, however, preclude unambiguous assignment of
these two resonances to the nontitrating histidines in the isolated
subunits. It appears that changes in the environment of at least some
histidines occur when the subunits combine to yield intact hormone.