STUDIES ON A PROTAMINE (GALLINE) FROM FOWL SPERM .4. DEGRADATION OF GALLINE BY TRYPSIN-LIKE PROTEASE OF FOWL SPERM HEADS

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 8  (6) , 579-587
Abstract
Galline, a protamine of domestic fowl, was obtained by 2 preparation procedures from the semen of a strain of White Plymouth Rock [Gallus domesticus] and submitted to fractionation by column chromatography on Bio-Gel CM[carboxymethyl]-30. In the 1st procedure, the specimen prepared from sperm heads was purified by the use of distilled water and dilute acetic acid and fractionated into almost 8 fractions (G-I-G-VIII) in the same way as the specimen from a strain of New Hampshire (1,2). No difference was found between galline specimens from the 2 different strains based on the amino acid and terminal analyses of each fraction. The specimen of galline from sperm heads purified with 1% citric acid (the 2nd procedure) was composed of only 1 component, which was isolated as a single peak. The smaller fractions, G-I-G-VII, were derived from G-VIII by the action of trypsin-like protease contained in the extract of sperm heads with 1% citric acid. This enzyme seems to originate in the acrosome of fowl spermatozoa. Intact galline is apparently composed of only 1 molecular species and its total amino acid sequence is represented in another paper.