Isolation, characterization and partial amino acid sequence of a phosphorylated polypeptide (E4) from bovine embryonic dental enamel.

A phosphorylated polypeptide (E4) of molecular weight 5000-6000, has been isolated from bovine embryonic enamel by Bio-Gel P-10 gel filtration and DE-52 ion-exchange chromatography. The peptide contains three serine residues all of which are phosphorylated. All three O-phosphoserine residues are in glutamic acid-O-phosphoserine-tyrosine sequences that are distributed relatively evenly along the polypeptide chain. Although it was not possible to sequence the entire polypeptide chain directly by automatic peptide sequencing, a partial sequence and peptide map was constructed on the basis of the sequence and composition of peptides derived by cyanogen bromide, trypsin and chymotrypsin digestion. The presence of glutamic acid, tyrosine and leucine adjacent to and near the O-phosphoserine residues may be important in calcium binding and in mineralization.