Isolation and properties of a fatty acid-binding protein from the pacific lamprey ( Lampetra tridentata)

Abstract

1. 1. A survey of 12 vertebrate species showed that palmitate was bound by an albumin-like serum protein in all classes tested except the dogfish and the lamprey. 2. 2. The major palmitate-binding protein of the Pacific lamprey was isolated and found to be of molecular mass 19,000. 3. 3. The amino acid composition of this protein indicates that it is not a member of the albumin superfamily. 4. 4. The 19-kDa lamprey protein binds bilirubin, cortisol and tryptophan only weakly, but binds palmitate with K A = 25 μ M −1 , comparable to the first long-chain fatty acid site of bovine albumin (K A = 34 μ M −1 ) .