The complete amino acid sequence of the B-chain of ricin E isolated from small-grain castor bean seeds. Ricin E is a gene recombination product of ricin D and Ricinus communis agglutinin.

The complete amino acid sequence of the B-chain of ricin E has been determined. The reduced and carboxymethylated B-chain was digested with trypsin, followed by separation and purification of the resulting peptides using reverse-phase HPLC. The amino acid sequence of each tryptic peptide was determined employing the DABITC/PITC double-coupling method. The B-chain of ricin E proved to consist of 262 amino acid residues. By comparing the amino acid sequence of the B-chain of ricin E with those of ricin D and of Ricinus communis agglutinin, it was found that the B-chain of ricin E was composed of the N-terminal half of ricin D and C-terminal half R. communis agglutinin. This result suggested that the gene recombination probably occurred at the center region of two B-chain genes of ricin D and R. communis agglutinin.