The amino acid sequence of the hydrophobic anchor of rabbit intestinal brush border aminopeptidase N

Abstract

The N-terminal sequence (14 residues) of the detergent form of rabbit intestinal aminopeptidase N was shown to be different from that of the protease form of the same enzyme and to be mostly hydrophobic. This finding is fully consistent with a previous assumption according to which this class of enzymes may be anchored to the brush border membrane by their N-terminus. This special mode of assembly may be facilitated by a positively charged lysine residue near the beginning of the sequence (Lys 4) just before an uninterrupted stretch of hydrophobic amino acids.