Enzymic and immunochemical properties of lysozyme. XIII. Accurate delineation of the reactive site around the disulfide 6-127 by immunochemical study of beta-propiolactone lysozyme derivative and of synthetic disulfide peptides.

In previous reports from this laboratory it was shown that an antigenic reactive site resides around the sequences 6-13 and 126-128 linked by the disulfide 6-127. The present work provides a strong support for the location of the reactive site by an independent approach. It also determines accurately the boundaries of the reactive site. 1. The two methionine residues in lysozyme were carboxyethylated by reaction with beta-propiolactone. The electrophoretically homogeneous derivative had no other modified amino acids and showed no conformational changes, relative to native lysozyme, as determined by ORD and CD measurements. However, it exhibited a slight increase in disulfide reducibility relative to native lysozyme and its lytic activity was about half that of native lysozyme, probably as a result of the slight conformational change. On the other hand, the antigenic reactivity of the derivative was equal to that of native lysozyme with several goat and rabbit antisera to lysozyem. It was therefore concluded that methionines 12 and 105 were not parts of antigenic reactive sites in native lysozyme. 2. Eleven peptides, corresponding to various sequences on the two sides of the disulfide 6-127 (i.e. two groups of peptides) were synthesized, purified and characterized. One group (A) of peptides comprised sequences 3-14, 5-14, 6-14, 5-13, 5-12 and an analog of sequence 5-14 in which methionine 12 is replaced by glycine. The second group (B) of peptides comprised sequences 125-129, 125-128, 126-128, 127-128, and 125-127. From groups A and B, nine disulfide-containing peptides (see Fig. 2) were synthesized, purified, characterized and their immunochemical interactions with antisera to native lysozyme studied. Towards each of the antisera studied here, Phe-3, Gly-4, Arg-5, Arg-125 and Leu-129 were not essential parts of the reactive site. On the other hand, Arg-14, Lys-13, Gly-126 and with some antisera Arg-128 were each critical for the reactivity of the site. Peptides from group A alone or group B alone did not inhibit the reaction of lysozyme with its antisera, confirming our previous findings that the integrity of the disulfide bond is essential for bringing the two distant (in sequence) parts of the site together. Finally, replacement of Met-12 by glycine did not influence the immunochemical reactivity of the site, confirming the above conclusion that neither of the two methionine residues takes part in interaction of lysozyme with its antibodies. An accurate delineation of the antigenic reactive site is, therefore derived here and its shape in the three-dimensional structure of native lysozyme is described.