110 THE PROTEIN SUBSTANCES. 



formed, at least in the salmon, is the muscle proteid. The question has 

 been raised whether the protamines are true proteids or not, and whether 

 it would not be more correct to consider them as cleavage products of 

 proteid, or as fractions thereof. According to the generally accepted 

 view we will treat them as true proteids. 



Protamine was discovered by MIESCHER l in salmon spermatozoa. 

 Later KOSSEL and his pupils isolated and studied similar bases from the 

 spermatozoa of herring, sturgeon, mackerel, and other fishes. As all 

 these bases are not identical, KOSSEL uses the name protamines to designate 

 the group, and calls the individual protamines according to their origin 

 salmine, clupeine, scombrine, sturine, cyprinine, cydopterine, crenilabrine 

 etc. 



They differ materially from the proteins by the fact that they yield 

 chiefly diamino-acids (always abundant arginine) as cleavage products, 

 and only a small amount of monamino-acids. They are strongly basic 

 substances rich in nitrogen (about 30 per cent or more) and have high 

 molecular weight. 



The percentage composition of these bodies has not been satisfactorily 

 determined. As probable formulae we have for salmine C32H54Nis04 

 (MIESCHER, SCHMIDEBERG, NELSON), or CsoHsyHiTOe (KOSSEL and GOTO), 

 for clupeine CsoH^NuCg, and for sturine CseHegHigO? (KOSSEL) or 

 Ca^TiNiTOg (GOTO), or according to MALENUCK C27H55Hi 3 07 for 

 sturine from Accipenser Guldenstadtii. On boiling with dilute mineral 

 acids as also by tryptic digestion, the protamines first yield peptone- 

 like substances called protones, from which simple products (amino-acids) 

 are derived on further cleavage. All protamines yield arginine, the four 

 protamines salmine, clupeine, cyclopterine, and sturine, yielding 87.4, 

 82.2, 62.5, and 58.2 per cent respectively. In the three protamines sal- 

 mine, clupeine and scombrine the arginine nitrogen, according to KOSSEL 

 and PRiNGLE 2 , amounts to about 89 per cent of the total nitrogen. 

 Sturine yields besides this the two hexone bases lysine, 12 percent, and 

 histidine, 12.9 per cent. Histidine has not been found in any other pro- 



1 In regard to protamines, see Miescher, Histochemische und Physiologische 

 Arbeiten, Leipzig, 1897; Piccard, Ber. d. deutsch. chem. Gesellsch., 7; Schmiedeberg, 

 Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 37; Kossel, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 22 (Ueber die 

 basischen Stoffe des Zellkerns), 25, 165 and 190, 26, 40, 44, and 69; and Sitzungsber. 

 der Gesellsch. zur Beford. der ges. Naturwiss. zu Marburg, 1897; Berl. klin. Woch- 

 enschr., 1904; Kossel and Mathews, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 23 and 25; Kossel 

 and Kutscher, ibid., 31; Goto, ibid., 37; Kurajeff, ibid., 32; Morkowin, ibid., 28; 

 Kossel and Dakin, ibid., 40, 41, and 44; Maleniick, ibid., 57; Pringle, ibid., 49; Ken- 

 naway, ibid., 72; Cameron, ibid., 76; F. Weiss, 59, 60 and 78; Nelson, Arch. f. exp. 

 Path. u. Pharm., 59. 



2 Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 53. 



