RE: ProtSeq:Glu-C

Amina (amina@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu)
Fri, 16 Oct 1998 11:49:47 -0400

David: I uded Glu-C sequence grade from Boehringer doing the digest in 25mM
Ammonium Bicarbonate pH 8.0 and observed nonspecific cleavage at the
amino-terminus of both glutamic and aspartic acid if they were preceded by
alanine or glycine. The only reference I found was in (G. Allen's
Laboratory techniques in biochemistry and molecular biology, he referenced
the following paper by Dognin, M.J, and Wittman-Liebold B. (19977) FEBS
Lett. 84, 342-346. The paper shows the cleavages at the amino-terminus.
They were using Staph Aureus V8).

Amina

Amina S. Woods, Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
725 N Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205
Tel: (410) 614-4981, Fax: (410) 955-3420
E-mail: amina@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: David A. Schooley [SMTP:schooley@unr.edu]
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 1998 8:14 PM
To: Recipients of ABRF List
Subject: ProtSeq:Glu-C

Another report of an anomalous cleavage:
A grad student recently cleaved an 8600 Da blocked peptide with
Glu-C, sequencing grade, freshly purchased from Boehringer. She used 0.1 M
Tris pH 8, which is not the phosphate recommended by Boehringer. We have
used Tris successfully in the past; it is our impression that there is
less absorption of protein to the tube at alkaline pH in Tris.
She observed cuts not only at E, but also at TWO different K
residues! Has anyone observed cutting at K with Glu-C? We are suspecting
either contamination of this lot of Glu-C with Lys-C, or a previously
unobserved cleavage due to the Tris buffer. I tend to discount the latter
as we cleaved a 37-amino acid peptide using these conditions previously
that contained two K's and had no cleavage at K.
Thanks in advance for any help!

David

David A. Schooley
Dept. of Biochemistry/330
Univ. of Nevada
Reno, NV 89557
schooley@med.unr.edu
tel: (702) 784-4136; fax (702) 784-1419