A repetitive proline-rich protein from the gymnosperm douglas fir is a hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein.

Intact cell elution of suspension cultures derived from Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirbel) Franco, yielded two extensin monomers, the first hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins (HRGPs) to be isolated from a gymnosperm. These HRGPs resolved on Superose-6 gel filtration. The smaller monomer was compositionally similar to angiosperm extensins like tomato P1. The larger monomer had a simple composition reminiscent of repetitive proline-rich proteins (RPRPs) from soybean cell walls and contained proline, hydroxyproline, and sugar; hence designated a proline-hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein (PHRGP). The simple composition of the PHRGP implied a periodic structure which was confirmed by the simple chymotryptic map and 45-residue partial sequence of the major proline-hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein chymotryptide 5: Lys-Pro-Hyp-Val-Hyp-Val-Ile-Pro-Pro-Hyp-Val-Val-Lys-Pro-Hyp-Hyp-Val- Tyr-Lys-Pro-Hyp-Val-Hyp-Val-Ile-Pro-Pro-Hyp-Val-Val-Lys-Pro-Hyp-Hyp- Val-Tyr-Lys-Ile-Pro-Pro(Hyp)-Val-Ile-Lys-Pro. Proline-hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein chymotryptide 5 contained an 18-residue tandem repeat devoid of tetra(hydroxy)-proline or serine; it also contained two instances of the five-residue motif Hyp-Hyp-Val-Tyr-Lys and five of the general Pro-Pro-X-X-Lys motif, thereby establishing its homology with typical angiosperm RPRPs and extensins from tomato, petunia, carrot, tobacco, sugar beet, and Phaseolus. Unlike the nonglycosylated soybean RPRP, the highly purified Douglas fir PHRGP was lightly glycosylated, confirmed by a quantitative hydroxyproline glycoside profile, indicating that extensins can range from highly glycosylated hydroxyproline to little or no glycosylated hydroxyproline. Comparison of extensin sequence data strongly indicates that a major determinant of hydroxyproline glycosylation specificity is hydroxyproline contiguity: extensins with tetrahydroxyproline blocks are very highly arabinosylated (>90% hydroxyproline glycosylated), tri- and dihydroxyproline are less so, and single hydroxyproline residues perhaps not at all. Despite high yields of extensins eluted from intact cells, the Douglas fir cell wall itself was hydroxyproline poor yet remarkably rich in protein (>20%), again emphasizing the existence of other structural cell wall proteins that are neither HRGPs nor glycine-rich proteins.