Studies on Reduced Wool V. A Comparison of the Two Major Components

Abstract

Starch-gel electrophoresis of wool proteins extracted from reduced and carboxymethylated wool gives a complex pattern in which there are two major protein bands. By a combination of chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and gelfiltration in buffers containing 8M urea these two protein components have been isolated. The amino acid composition and some properties of these two fractions are reported. A comparison of the amino acid composition and of peptide maps of tryptic digests of the two fractions shows distinct differences between them, and by labelling with 2-[14C]iodoacetate the distribution of the peptides containing S-carboxymethylcysteine residues were also shown to be different.