‘Phosphatido-peptide’-like complexes formed by the interaction of calcium triphosphoinositide with protein

Abstract

1. The sodium salt of triphosphoinositide partitions in the upper polar phase in a biphasic chloroform-methanol-water system similar to that of Folch et al. (1957). 2. On the addition of 2mug.atoms of Ca(2+) or Mg(2+) per mumole of triphosphoinositide the phospholipid passes entirely into the lower non-polar phase as the dicalcium or dimagnesium salt. 3. When serum albumin is included in the biphasic system, some of the dicalcium (dimagnesium) triphosphoinositide becomes attached to the protein material at the interface. 4. The affinity of Ca(2+) for triphosphoinositide is 2-2.5 times as great as that of Mg(2+) and the salt is not dissociated appreciably by equimolar amounts of EDTA or cyclohexane-1,2-diaminetetra-acetate. 5. When dicalcium triphosphoinositide is mixed with serum albumin a complex is formed which is insoluble in chloroform-methanol (2:1, v/v) but which dissolves completely when 0.25% (v/v) of concentrated hydrochloric acid is added. 6. On homogenizing a chloroform-methanol solution of dicalcium triphosphoinositide with guinea-pig liver the phospholipid becomes quantitatively attached to the insoluble residue, but it can be completely extracted from this with acidified chloroform-methanol. 7. The relevance of these observations to the significance of the phosphatido-peptide-complexes extracted from brain is discussed.