Photoaffinity labeling of human serum vitamin D binding protein and chemical cleavages of the labeled protein: identification of an 11.5-kDa peptide containing the putative 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 binding site.

In this paper, we describe photoaffinity labeling and related studies of human serum vitamin D binding protein (hDBP) with 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 3 beta-3'-[N-(4-azido-2-nitrophenyl)amino]propyl ether (25-ANE) and its radiolabeled counterpart, i.e., 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 3 beta-3'-[N-(4-azido-2-nitro-[3,5-3H]phenyl)amino]propyl ether (3H-25-ANE) (Ray et al., 1986, 1991). We have carried out studies to demonstrate that (1) 25-ANE competes with 25-OH-D3 for the binding site of the latter in hDBP and (2) 3H-25-ANE is capable of covalently labeling the hDBP molecule when exposed to UV light. Treatment of a sample of purified hDBP, labeled with 3H-25-ANE, with BNPS-skatole produced two Coomassie Blue stained peptide fragments, and the majority of the radioactivity was associated with the smaller of the two peptide fragments (16.5 kDa). On the other hand, cleavage of the labeled protein with cyanogen bromide produced a peptide (11.5 kDa) containing most of the covalently attached radioactivity. Considering the primary amino acid structure of hDBP, this peptide fragment (11.5 kDa) represents the N-terminus through residue 108 of the intact protein. Thus, our results tentatively identify this segment of the protein containing the binding pocket for 25-OH-D3.