TWO ABNORMAL FIBRINOGENS DESIGNATED AS OSAKA II AND MORIOKA WITH A HITHERTO UNIDENTIFIED AMINO ACID SUBSTITUTION; γARG-275 BY CYS

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Abstract
A hitherto unidentified amino acid substitution of γ Arg-275 by Cys has been found in two abnormal fibrinogens, Osaka II and Morioka. The propositi are both asymptomatic heterozygotes for the abnormality characterized by altered polymerization of fibrin monomers. Reducing SDS-PAGE revealed that fibrinogens derived from thé propositi both consist of two populations; one with a normal and the other with an abnormal longer γ-chain by 0.5 Kd. The γ-γ cross-linking took place nearly normally, however. Analyzing plasmic digests of fibrinogen by SDS-PAGE, we located the abnormality residing in the γ-chain remnant of fragment D. Chromatofocusing of D1 obtained by plasmic digestion in 5 mM Ca++ of purified fibrinogen separated the variant D1 (vD1) from the normal one (nD1) distinctly, as confirmed by SDS-PAGE and functional studies. As anticipated, vD1 failed to interfere with normal fibrin polymerization and thrombin clotting of normal fibrinogen, whereas nD1 inhibited these reactions significantly. After reduction and pyridylethylation, vD1 and nD1 were individually digested with lysylendopeptidase (lysEP). Analyzing the digests by reverse phase HPLC, we noted a single peak present in the digests of vD1 but missing in those of nD1, and vice versa. Analysis of N-terminal five cycles of these peptides suggested that both of them corresponded to the peptide with residues 274302 based on the known sequence data. Primary sequence and total amino acid analyses revealed that γ Arg-275 has been substituted by Cys in both of these abnormal fibrinogens. Analysis of the lysEP-digests of the isolated γ-chain also gave the same result. Since no free SH has been identified at the γ Cys-275 substitute, the variant γ-chain may be endowed with some additive by an S-S linkage. Even if so, elucidation of an apparent elongation by SDS-PAGE of the γ-chain variant must await further investigation. In any case, however, the substitution of γ Arg-275 by Cys may have induced critical alterations in the γ-chain-dependent polymerization site in the D domain in these two abnormal fibrinogens.

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