title: Purification and characterization of pepsinogens from the gastric mucosa of African coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, and properties of the major pepsins.
abstract: Two major pepsinogens, PG1 and PG2, and one minor pepsinogen, PG3, were purified from the gastric mucosa of African coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae (Actinistia). PG1 and PG2 were much less acidic than PG3. Their molecular masses were estimated by SDS-PAGE to be 37.0, 37.0 and 39.3 kD, respectively. When incubated at pH 2.0, PG1 and PG2 were converted autocatalytically to the mature pepsins through an intermediate form, whereas PG3 was converted to an intermediate form, but not to the mature pepsin autocatalytically. The N-terminal sequencing indicated that the 42 residue sequences of the propeptides of PG1 and PG2 were essentially identical with each other, but different from that of PG3. A phylogenetic tree based on the N-terminal propeptide sequences indicates that PG1 and PG2 belong to the pepsinogen A group, and PG3 to the pepsinogen C group. From the phylogenetic comparison, coelacanth PG1 and PG2 appear to be evolutionally closer to tetrapod pepsinogens A than ray-finned fish pepsinogens A, consistent with the traditional systematics. Pepsins 1 and 2 were essentially identical with each other and rather similar to mammalian pepsins A in the pH optimum toward hemoglobin (pH 2-2.5), the cleavage specificity toward oxidized insulin B chain and strong inhibition by pepstatin, except that they possessed a significant level of activity in the higher pH range unlike mammalian pepsins A.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan.
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanji
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yakabe
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kageyama
authors.forename: Shin-Ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokobori
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ichinose
authors.forename: Kazumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miki
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D005399:Fishes / Q000235:genetics*; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000201:enzymology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010434:Pepsin A / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010435:Pepsinogens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D010435:Pepsinogens; D010434:Pepsin A