Purification and Characterization of Porcine Pepsinogen B and Pepsin B

Porcine pepsinogen B was prepared from extracts of adult porcine fundic mucosa. Immunoelectrophoresis showed no immunochemical cross-reactions between pepsinogen B and other porcine gastric zymogens. Pepsin B was purified after activation of the zymogen. The enzyme showed an optimum of general proteolytic activity at pH 3.0. Activation of pepsinogen B at pH 2 resulted in formation of the covalent intermediate (pseudo-pepsin B) by proteolytic cleavage of bond Met16p-Glu17p (pig pepsinogen A numbering, "p" indicates residues of the prosegment peptide). Pseudopepsin B was stable at pH 2. The intermediate was converted to pepsin B at pH 5.5. The overall activation of pepsinogen B was much slower than found for other investigated gastric zymogens. During the conversion of pepsinogen B to mature pepsin B a segment of 43 amino acid residues was cleaved from the N-terminal of pepsinogen B. The amino acid sequence of the prosegment and the first 24 residues of pepsin B was determined. Relative to porcine pepsinogen A, progastricsin, and prochymosin, the following degrees of identities were observed: 40, 55, and 51%.