It is proposed to purchase a set of specialized instruments for the purification of proteins/peptides and the determination of their amino acid sequences. This equipment, which includes an amino acid analyzer, gas phase sequencer and preparative high performance liquid chromatograph, will, along with additional equipment already in operation as part of the Protein/Nucleic Acid Analysis Laboratory (P/NAAL), provide a spectrum of analyses to the users group, composed mainly of the principal investigator and various colleagues at the University of California-Irvine. These will range from full amino acid sequence determinations to the synthesis of oligonucleotide probes/primers. Projects requiring P/NAAL support from the principal investigators laboratory include studies on the structure and biosynthesis of several NAD+ dependent dehydrogenases, characterization of mutant forms of E. coli alkaline phosphatase, and the sequence analyses of phosphoglycerate mutase, liver and intestinal lectins, the supporting subunits of bovine seminal plasma, guinea pig prostate and rattlesnake NGF's, and the amino terminal region of pituitary fibroblast growth factor. Other investigators at the University of California-Irvine and neighboring institutions require P/NAAL support for projects as diverse as gene structure and expression, on the one hand, and characterization of cell surface receptors on the other. In particular, projects involving analyses of protease nexins, pyruvate kinase isozymes, asparagine synthetase, ribosomal proteins, cytochrome p-450scc, immunoglobins, chloroplast aldolases and halorhodopsin are described as well as studies dealing with protein synthesis, bacterial iron transport. Many of these projects also involve gene splicing and nucleic acid sequence determinations. In addition, there are a considerable number of minor users with an equally broad variety of projects. The breadth of these projects form both major and minor users strongly underscores the many applications of modern protein chemical analyses and the value of a centralized laboratory for providing such services.
