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1. A new method is described for ;fingerprinting' cysteic acid peptides derived from the disulphide bridges of proteins. Cystine peptides are separated by paper electrophoresis and oxidized on paper by performic acid vapour. Electrophoresis at right angles to the first direction produces parallel groups of cysteic acid peptides lying off a diagonal. This ;fingerprint' reveals the way in which the cysteic acid peptides were originally joined in the protein. 2. The method allows a very easy selective purification of cysteic acid peptides. 3. By applying this method to bovine chymotrypsinogen A, we found that the half-cystine residues were linked 1-122, 42-58, 136-201, 168-182 and 191-220.

1. Calf lens alpha-crystallin was carboxymethylated with radioactive sodium iodoacetate to label the thiol group. 2. The protein was then digested with trypsin or alternatively fractionated in urea to obtain the acidic (A) chains, which were then digested with trypsin. Either procedure gave two radioactive peptides containing carboxymethylcysteine. 3. These two peptides were closely related: the longer form contained 28 amino acid residues, and the shorter lacked two residues at the N-terminal end of the longer form. 4. The amino acid sequence of the peptides have been determined. 5. No evidence for the presence of more than one cysteine residue/chain was found. 6. The question of the molecular weight of the chains is discussed.

The light chain of rabbit immunoglobulin G was shown to contain 15-20% blocked N-terminal residue. The blocked residue is pyrrolid-2-one-5-carboxylic acid, and most of the chains that contain this residue have the N-terminal sequence pyrrolid-2-one-5-carbonyl-valine.