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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1977 Oct;74(10):4685–4688. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.10.4685

Affinity alkylation labels two subunits of the reduced acetylcholine receptor from mammalian muscle.

S C Froehner, A Karlin, Z W Hall
PMCID: PMC432012  PMID: 270707

Abstract

The acetylcholine receptor from denervated rat skeletal muscle was purified by affinity chromatography and, after reduction, was treated with the affinity alkylating agent 4-(N-maleimido)benzyltri[3H]methylammonium iodide. The receptor specifically incorporated approximately 1 mol of alkylating agent per mol of 125I-labeled alpha-bungarotoxin bound. Analysis of the labeled receptor by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate showed that two subunits were labeled; their apparent molecular weights were 45,000 and 49,000. These results suggest that the affinity reagent labels a second site for acetylcholine binding in the muscle receptor that is not labeled in receptors from Electrophorus or Torpedo.

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Selected References

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