Partial amino acid sequence of the glutamate dehydrogenase of human liver and a revision of the sequence of the bovine enzyme.

The glutamate dehydrogenase from a single human liver has been studied. The subunit size was found to be 55,200 +/- 1,500 by sedimentation equilibrium. The partial specific volume is 0.732 as calculated from the amino acid composition. The sequence was determined by isolation of peptides after cyanogen bromide (CNBr) cleavage; the fraction containing the largest peptides was hydrolyzed by trypsin after maleylation. Studies on these peptides accounted for 454 residues of the 505 residues that are presumably present in the protein. For the 51 residues that were not represented in isolated peptides, we have tentatively assumed that the sequence is the same as that of the bovine enzyme. Methionine and arginine residues in these peptides could be placed on the basis of the specificity of cleavage by CNBr or trypsin. In all, 349 residues were placed in sequence, and were aligned by homology with the corresponding peptides of the bovine and chicken enzymes. From the present information, there are 24 known differences in sequence between the human and bovine enzymes and 41 between the human and chicken enzymes. In addition, the human enzyme contains 4 additional residues at the NH2 terminus as compared to the bovine enzyme. In a peptide from the human enzyme, an additional residue, isoleucine 385, was detected by automated Edman degradation. Reinvestigation of the bovine sequence demonstrated that this residue is also present in the bovine enzyme (and presumably in the chicken enzyme also). Residue 384 of the bovine enzyme, previously reported as Glx has now been shown to be glutamine.