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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
. 1990 Oct;87(19):7352–7354. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.19.7352

Prenylated proteins: synthesis of geranylgeranylcysteine and identification of this thioether amino acid as a component of proteins in CHO cells.

W W Epstein 1, D C Lever 1, H C Rilling 1
PMCID: PMC54744  PMID: 2217168

Abstract

Prenylated proteins, labeled in the isoprenoid residue by growing CHO cells in medium containing [5-3H]mevalonate, were degraded by three different proteolytic procedures, enzymatic or alkaline hydrolysis as well as hydrazinolysis. The products thus obtained were analyzed by HPLC with chemically prepared all-trans-geranylgeranylcysteine as a standard. About 10% of the radioactive products released by each lytic procedure showed the same chromatographic properties as geranylgeranylcysteine. This verifies the earlier conclusion, based on less-direct evidence, that this thioether derivative of cysteine is a component of naturally occurring proteins. The finding of this modified amino acid as a product of hydrazinolysis indicates that it is a carboxyl-terminal amino acid and that it is not carboxyl-methylated.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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