Characterization of trypsin and elastase from the moose (Alces alces). I. Amino acid composition and specificity towards polypeptides.

Trypsin and elastase isolated from the pancreas of the moose (Alces alces), a member of the Cervidae (deer) family, were characterized with respect to their amino acid composition and specificity towards polypeptides. Moose trypsin possessed 234 residues, based on alanine recoveries equal to 16.0 residues, with a molecular weight calculated at 24 476. Moose trypsin readily hydrolysed peptide bonds in which the carbonyl group was contributed by arginine, lysine and S-2-aminoethylcysteine as indicated by the peptides isolated following hydrolysis of the oxidized and the S-aminoethylated B-chain of insulin. Moose elastase possessed 231 residues, based on alanine recoveries equal to 17.0 residues, with a molecular weight calculated as 24 201. The high lysine (9 residues), low arginine (3 residues) content was in contrast to the opposite situation with porcine elastase and the elastase-like, alpha-lytic protease from Sorangium. The hydrolysis of the oxidized B-chain of insulin by moose elastase was similar to that produced by porcine elastase with major cleavages occurring at Val-12-Glu-13, Ala-14-Leu-15 and Val-18-Cys(O-3H)-19 and minor cleavages occurring at Ser-9-His-10 and Arg-21-Gly-22. The hydrolysis of glucagon with moose elastase produced major cleavages at Thr-7-Ser-8, Ser-11-Lys-12, Val-23-Gln-24 and Leu-26-Met-27. The facile hydrolysis of Arg-17-Arg-18 was also observed and attributed, in part, to trypsin.