Estrogen-binding proteins of calf uterus. Purification to homogeneity of receptor from cytosol by affinity chromatography.

The estrogen receptor has been purified to homogeneity from calf uterus cytosol by sequential affinity chromatography by using heparin--Sepharose 4B and 17-hemisuccinyl-17beta-estradiol-ovalbumin--Sepharose 4B. The procedure yields about 1.2 mg of receptor protein from 1 kg of calf uteri, with a recovery of 53%. The receptor protein, as a complex with 17beta-[3H]estradiol, is purified more than 99%. A single band is seen on polyacrylamide gel ectrophoresis under nondenaturing conditions. 17beta-[3H]Estradiol comigrates with the protein band. As computed from the specific activity of radioactive hormone, 64,450 g of purified receptor protein binds 1 mol of 17beta-estradiol. 17beta-[3H]Estradiol bound to the protein is displaced by estrogenic steriods but not by progesterone, testosterone, or cortisone. As judged by chromatography on calibrated Sephadex G-200 columns, the purified receptor is identical with native receptor in crude cytosol: both show a Stokes radius of 6.4 nm. On sucrose gradient in low-salt buffer, the purified receptor sediments at 8 S. On electrophoresis in NaDodSO4 gels, the purified receptor migrates as a single protein band with an apparent molecular weight of 70,000. The sedimentation coefficient measured on sucrose gradients in the presence of chaotropic salts [1 M NaBr or NaSCN (0.1 M)] is 4.2 S. We conclude that the estrogen receptor of cytosol consists of a single subunit weighing about 70,000 daltons and endowed with one estrogen binding site. Under native conditions in cytosol, several subunits associate to form a quaternary structure with a Stokes radius of 6.4 nm.