title: beta-Crystallin: endogenous substrate of lens transglutaminase. Characterization of the acyl-donor site in the beta Bp chain.
abstract: Incubation of calf lens cortex homogenate with [14C]putrescine or dansylcadaverine, followed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and fluorography, enabled the identification of three different beta-crystallin chains as the endogenous substrates of Ca2+-dependent lens transglutaminase (R-glutaminyl-peptide:amine-gamma-glutamylyltransferase, EC 2.3.2.13). One of these is beta Bp, the predominant subunit of beta-crystallin, of which the amino acid sequence is known. The site of amine-labeling in beta Bp could be located, by limited proteolysis, in the N-terminal domain of this chain. Tryptic digestion of the N-terminal domain and subdigestion with elastase of the N-terminal tryptic peptide identified glutamine-7 as the single residue to which the amines are bound. This is the first example of an endogenous substrate of intracellular transglutaminase in which the site of the acyl-donor glutamine residue has been established. Tryptic digestion of the putrescine-labeled beta-crystallin aggregate, followed by high-voltage paper electrophoresis, provided a preliminary characterization of the labeled peptides originating from the other two labeled beta subunits.
mesh_terms: D000215:Acylation; D000217:Acyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D002417:Cattle; D003459:Crystallins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004590:Electrophoresis, Paper; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005453:Fluorescence; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000201:enzymology*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D011503:Transglutaminases
chemical_list: D003459:Crystallins; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D000217:Acyltransferases; D011503:Transglutaminases