Bovine pepsinogens and pepsins. The sequence around a reactive aspartyl residue.

The specific inhibitor, N-diazoacetylnorleucine methyl ester reacts stoicheiometrically with bovine pepsin resulting in a simultaneous loss of all enzymic activity. A peptide containing a modified aspartyl group was isolated from bovine pepsin labelled with (14)C-labelled inhibitor. The aspartic acid residue is presumed to be part of the active centre and is in the same heptapeptide sequence as in porcine pepsin: Ile-Val-Asp-Thr-Gly-Thr-Ser.