A method for the separation of hybrids of chromatographically identical oligomeric proteins. Use of 3,4,5,6-tetrahydrophthaloyl groups as a reversible "chromatographic handle".

Hybridization experiments with variants of an oligomeric protein often provide important information regarding subunit structure, function, and interactions. In some systems, however, the variants are so similar electrophoretically and chromatographically that purification of individual hybrids is not feasible. Therefore a method was developed for preparing hybrids by using 3,4,5,6-tetrahydrophthalic anhydride as a reversible acylating agent for protein amino groups. The technique involved acylating about 30% of the amino groups at pH 8 to give a derivative with a markedly altered net charge, formation of the hybrid set with unmodified and modified species, separation of the individual components by ion-exchange chromatography, and finally removal of the tetrahydrophthaloyl groups from the desired hybrid by incubation for about 1 day at pH 6 and room temperature. Experiments with model compounds and two enzymes showed that the anhydride was sepcific for amino groups. The extent of modification of proteins was measured by the spectral change at 250 nm, the loss of free amino groups, and the change in electrophoretic mobility of the polypeptide chains in polyacrylamide gels containing 8 M urea. Deacylation of modified, inactive aldolase and the catalytic subunit of aspartate transcarbamylase led to the restoration of the enzyme activity and electrophoretic mobility of the unmodified proteins. Both intra- and inter-subunit hybrids of aspartate transcarbamylase were prepared and isolated by using the tetrahydrophthaloyl groups as a reversible "chromatographic handle". Prior to deacylation the inter-subunit hybrid containing one acylated and one native catalytic subunit (and negative regulatory sub-units) exhibited no homotropic cooperativity and after deacylation the characteristic allosteric properties of the enzyme were regained. Similarly the ligand-promoted conformational changes associated with the allosteric transition were resotred upon deacylation of the intra-subunit hybrid containing one acylated and two native chains in each catalytic subunit. Criteria are described which must be satisfied if a reversible "chromatographic handle" is to be effective in hybridization experiments and it is shown that, despite some heterogeneity in its reaction with protein amino groups, 3,4,5,6-tetrahydrophthalic anhydride shows considerable promise for studies of oligomeric proteins.