The immunological activity of some of the chymotryptic peptides of sperm-whale myoglobin.

1. Sperm-whale apomyoglobin was digested with chymotrypsin in a dialysis sac. The ultrafiltrate contained incompletely hydrolysed fragments which partially inhibited the precipitation of metmyoglobin and apomyoglobin by some antisera produced against metmyoglobin. The inhibitory activity was stable to heating at 100 degrees and depended on the peptide structure. 2. The fragments were fractionated according to molecular size and were purified by ion-exchange chromatography. Six pure peptides and two peptides which contained a minor impurity were isolated. Their amino acid compositions and N-terminal amino acid sequences were determined and their entire amino acid sequences deduced from the known amino acid sequence of sperm-whale myoglobin. 3. The peptides formed no detectable precipitates with the antisera. Five of the eight peptides partially inhibited the precipitation of apomyoglobin and/or metmyoglobin by one antiserum. Six of the peptides inhibited the precipitation of apomyoglobin by one or other of two antisera; at least two of these peptides inhibited both antisera. One peptide failed to inhibit the precipitation of either antigen by either antiserum. Two of the peptides possessed the same serological specificity. 4. The molar ratios of inhibitors to antigen for 50% of the maximum inhibition decreased as the molecular size of the inhibitor increased. With one antiserum and with apomyoglobin as the antigen, molar ratios 12 and 80 were obtained for peptides with molecular weights 2051 and 793 respectively. 5. The size and structure of an antigenic site is discussed in relation to the known steric configuration of myoglobin.