The First Component (Cln) of the Complement System of the Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma Cirratum)

Abstract
The sedimentation coefficient of Cln varied inversely with the ionic strength in sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation. Natural antibody contamination was removed from impure Cln preparations by zonal ultracentrifugation in a high ionic strength (µ = 0.70) sucrose gradient, in which the Cln was 13.9S. The purified Cln gave a single precipitin line in Ouchterlony and immunoelectrophoresis with anti-whole nurse shark serum. Rabbit antibody against this preparation agglutinated cell-bound Cln, gave a single precipitin line of identity with purified Cln and whole nurse shark serum, and single precipitin arcs immunoelectrophoretically. At 0°C, 0.04 M EDTA inactivated Cln slowly and did not prevent Cln-site formation. EDTA inactivation was irreversible. In the presence of EDTA, immunoelectrophoresis of purified Cln gave three precipitin arcs. Esterase activity, present in the partially purified (urea-precipitated) Cln preparations, was absent in purified Cln with N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester, p-tosyl-L-arginine methyl ester, or N-carbobenzoxy-l-tyrosine p-nitrophenyl ester as substrates.