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Biomedical subjects

K C Chen

Publications and source records attributed to K C Chen.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Ultrastructure of developing ascospores in Sordaria brevicollis.

The ultrastructure of ascospore wall formation in the pyrenomycete Sordaria brevicollis was studied in developing asci at progressive time intervals. From early spore delimitation through final stage of maturation, the wall of the ascospore differentiated into four composite layers, the periascosporium the delineation ascosporium, the subascosproium, and the endoascosproium, While ascospores were at the hyaline stage of development,they possessed only the periascosporium and delineation ascosporium as their wall components. At about 7 to 8 days from the initiation of the cross, the spores developed a yellow color, and this coloration was always associated with the elaboration of the subascorsporium just internal to the ascosporium. Asthe spores continued to progressively darken in color, the subascosporium was seen to increase in complexity, electron density, and thickness. Soon after the formation of the subascosporium, the endoascosporium began to develop de novo and was, therefore, the last wall layer formed as the spore approached maturity.

Ascomycota↗

Primary structure of porcine pepsin. I. Purification and placement of cyanogen bromide fragments and the amino acid sequence of fragment CB5.

Fragments resulting from the cyanogen bromide cleavage of reduced and aminoethylated porcine pepsin were purified. Only four of the five fragments theoretically present could be accounted for in major yield when the cyanogen bromide reaction was carried out at room temperature. The NH2-terminal fragment, CB2, contained an internal homoserine which was not cleaved to any significant extent. The amino acid sequence around this internal homoserine was determined by isolating and partially determining the sequence of an alpha-chymotryptic peptide. Cleavage at this methionine was increased by 50% when the cyanogen bromide reaction was carried out at 37 degrees. The NH2- and COOH-terminal sequences of five major fragments were determined. The placement of these fragments in the native pepsin molecule was demonstrated. The amino acid sequence of one of the fragments, CB5, was determined. This fragment contains 44 residues with an internal disulfide bridge. The COOH-terminal methionine of this fragment was connected to another 37-residue cyanogen bromide fragment of known sequence. Together these two fragments formed the COOH-terminal 81 residues of porcine pepsin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Primary structure of the L chain from a rabbit homogeneous antibody to streptococcal carbohydrate. I. Purification of antibody and sequence determination of peptides from alpha-chymo-tryptic and thermolytic digests.

Primary structural studies have been carried out on the light chain of a homogeneous rabbit antibody to Group C streptococcal carbohydrate. Approximately 20 g of this antibody were obtained by multiple exchange transfusions at the peak of the antibody response. The isolated antibody was homogeneous by several antigenic and chemical criteria. The light chain was isolated and modified, and then digested with alpha-chymotrypsin or thermolysin. The resulting peptides were isolated by gel filtration, paper electrophoresis, and paper chromatography. The amino acid sequences of these peptides were determined by Edman degradation plus dansylation. This supplied sufficient information to assign approximately 90 percent of the residues in the chain. The destruction of tyrosine during acid hydrolysis of peptides which had been eluted from a paper chromatogram was investigated. This destruction is due to inpurities in the paper which contaminate the peptides. Prevention of such destruction can be achieved by predevelopment of the paper with 1 N NH4OH prior to paper chromatography.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Amino-acid sequence of an allotype b4 light chain from a rabbit antibody to streptococcal carbohydrate.

The complete amino-acid sequence was determined for a rabbit-antibody light chain of allotype b4. The light chain was recovered from approximately 20 g of homogeneous antibody to group C streptococcal carbohydrate, which was obtained from an immunized rabbit. Several enzymic digestions were used to obtain the overlapping peptides necessary for the sequence determination. The L chain has 210 amino-acid residues, as determined by sequence analysis, and a molecular mass of 23,060 daltons. This antibody light chain contains seven half-cystine residues characteristic of the (kappa)B light-chain class. The amino-terminal sequence was determined to be Ala-Asp-Ile-Val-Met, indicating that the chain belongs to the V(kappa)I subgroup.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Amino-acid sequence of porcine pepsin.

As the culmination of several years of experiments, we propose a complete amino-acid sequence for porcine pepsin, an enzyme containing 327 amino-acid residues in a single polypeptide chain. In the sequence determination, the enzyme was treated with cyanogen bromide. Five resulting fragments were purified. The amino-acid sequence of four of the fragments accounted for 290 residues. Because the structure of a 37-residue carboxyl-terminal fragment was already known, it was not studied. The alignment of these fragments was determined from the sequence of methionyl-peptides we had previously reported. We also discovered the locations of activesite aspartyl residues, as well as the pairing of the three disulfide bridges. A minor component of commercial crystalline pepsin was found to contain two extra amino-acid residues, Ala-Leu-, at the amino-terminus of the molecule. This minor component was apparently derived from a different site of cleavage during the activation of porcine pepsinogen.

Amino Acid Sequence↗