Phosphoproteins in the parotid saliva from the subhuman primate Macaca fascicularis. Isolation and characterization of a proline-rich phosphoglycoprotein and the complete covalent structure of a proline-rich phosphopeptide.

Parotid saliva from the cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis) and from pooled human collections displayed the same groups of proteins when fractionated by anion exchange and gel filtration chromatography. We have isolated and characterized a proline-rich phosphoglycoprotein (MPRP) and a proline-rich phosphopeptide (M-statherin) from macaque parotid saliva. MPRP has an apparent molecular weight of 16,900 and displays an unusual chemical composition. It is enriched in proline, glycine, and acidic amino acids, but lacks cysteine, methionine, and tyrosine. MPRP contains 25% (w/w) carbohydrate with 7.0 mol of neutral hexoses, 5.3 mol of galactosamine, 5.9 mol of sialic acid, and 3 mol of phosphorus/mol of protein. M-statherin is a 42-residue phosphopeptide with a high proline, glutamic acid, and tyrosine content, but which lacks threonine, valine, cysteine, methionine, isoleucine, and histidine. The complete covalent structure of M-statherin (Mr = 5,368) is: NH2-Asp-Pse-Pse-Glu-Glu-Lys-Phe-Leu-Arg-Arg-Leu-Arg-Arg-Phe-Asp-Glu-Gly-Arg-Tyr- -Gly-Pro-Tyr-Gln-Pro-Phe-Ala-Pro-Gln-Pro-Leu-Tyr-Pro-Gln-Pro-Tyr-Gln-Pro-Tyr-Gln-Pro-Gln-Tyr-COOH This is the first complete amino acid sequence of a component in the salivary secretion of a subhuman primate. Phosphoserine occurs at residues 2 and 3. All 13 acidic and basic amino acids are located in the NH2-terminal half of the molecule. The carboxyl-terminal half of the molecule is hydrophobic where the tripeptide Tyr-Gln-Pro is repeated three times, the dipeptide Gln-Pro occurs twice, and the tripeptides Tyr-Gly-Pro, Phe-Ala-Pro, and Leu-Tyr-Pro occur once. Evaluation of secondary structure by the Chou-Fasman method predicts an alpha helix in the NH2-terminal half (residue 4-16) and a beta pleated sheet in the carboxyl-terminal half (residues 22-26; 38-42) of the molecule. Both MPRP and M-statherin inhibit spontaneous and seeded precipitation from solutions supersaturated with respect to calcium phosphate salts. This suggests that these macaque compounds may function by maintaining saliva supersaturated with respect to calcium phosphate salts, a necessary requirement for stabilization of hydroxyapatite in the surface layers of teeth.U