Comparison of bovine serum transferrin A and D2. I. Amino acid residue differences.

A comparison is made of single components of the homozygous variants A and D2 of bovine serum transferrin by tryptic, chymotryptic and cyanogen bromide digestion. It is concluded that there are three substitutions A:D2-Glu:Asp, Lys:Arg and Asp:Gly. In the light of the recent work of Brock et al. (1980) it is concluded that all three substitutions occur in the C-terminal sequence of the chain. By homology with the sequence of human serum transferrin (MacGillivray et al., 1982) the Lys:Arg and Asp:Gly substitutions probably occur at residues 527 and 446, respectively, from the N-terminus. The Asp:Gly substitution is considered more likely than our earlier conclusion (Maeda, McKenzie & Shaw, 1977) that there is a deletion in the chain of D2 (A:D2, Asp:--). The location of the Glu:Asp substitution is not known.