PKOTAMINES. 



Ill 



tamine. The carp protamine, cyprinine, occurs in two different modi- 

 fications, namely, a- and /3-cyprinine. The a-cyprinine yields only little 

 arginine, 4.9 per cent, but the lysine content is pronounced, 28.8 per cent. 

 Of the total nitrogen 30.3 per cent exists as lysine. KOSSEL and DAKIN 

 have obtained from salmine the following cleavage products, namely, 

 arginine 87.4, serine 7.8, aminovaleric acid 4.3, and a-pyrrolidine-car- 

 boxylic (proline) acid 11 per cent, and according to them the salmine 

 contains about 10 mol. arginine, 2 mol. serine, 1 mol. aminovaleric acid, 

 and 2 mol. proline. Scombrine contains only arginine, alanine, and pro- 

 line. According to KOSSEL, every protamine contains only 2 or 3 mon- 

 amino-acids (clupeine contains 4) and for every 2 molecules of arginine 

 only 1 molecule of monamino-acid occurs. The above-mentioned pro- 

 tones (of the salmine group) are symmetrically constituted diarginides 

 with a monamino-acid for example diarginylserine, diarginylproline etc., 

 and these diarginides are united together forming the protamine. 

 Thus according to KOSSEL in clupeine we can accept the presence of 

 diarginylalanine, diarginylserine, diarginylproline, and diarginylvaline 

 (KOSSEL and PRINGLE). 



The following summary according to KOSSEL gives a view of the 

 cleavage products of the protamines thus far investigated: 



Solutions of these bases in water are alkaline and have the property 

 of giving precipitates with ammoniacal solutions of proteins or primary 

 proteoses, but the researches of HUNTER 1 show that these precipitates 

 are not histones, as generally considered. The salts with mineral acids 

 are soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol and ether. They are more 

 or less readily precipitated by neutral salts (NaCl). Among the salts 

 of the protamines, the sulphate, picrate, and the double-platinum chloride 

 are the most important, and are used in the preparation of the protamines. 

 The protamines are, like the proteins, levogyrate; but by the action of 

 alkali the rotation is reduced or made to disappear, which according 



Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem. 53. 



