ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NOVEL MONOMERIC ZINC-CONTAINING AND HEME-CONTAINING PROTEIN FROM BOVINE BRAIN

An acidic zinc- and heme-containing protein was isolated from the solu ble fraction of bovine brain and has been purified to homogeneity. The zinc-heme protein is a monomeric globular protein with a molecular ma ss of 31 200 Da as determined by electrospray mass spectrometry, The p rotein was isolated with 0.90 +/- 0.05 zinc per protein and with subst oichiometric amounts of heme, Amino acid sequences of four peptides (c a. 20% of the protein) mere determined and the comparison of these seq uences with those of protein and gene sequence databases revealed no s ignificant correlation with any known protein, Thus, it is concluded t hat it is a novel protein of currently unknown biological function.