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The complete amino acid sequence of the light chain of human blood coagulation factor X has been determined by automated Edman degradation of peptides isolated from chemical and enzymatic digests of the carboxymethylated light chain. The protein consists of 139 amino acid residues, which include 11 residues of gamma-carboxyglutamic acid. The first 100 residues of the human factor X light chain exhibit approximately 80% homology when compared to the amino-terminal sequence of bovine factor X light chain. This homology decreases to approximately 50% in the remaining 39 residues of the carboxyl-terminal region of the protein. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry analyses of isolated residue 63 identified this residue as L-erythro-beta-hydroxyaspartic acid, a hitherto unrecognized amino acid in proteins. Evidence is also presented for the presence of this residue in the corresponding regions of the light chains of bovine factor X and bovine protein C. The biological function of beta-hydroxyaspartic acid in these proteins is unknown.
McMullen et al. (Tue,) studied this question.