Sialoglycoproteins of Mammalian Erythrocyte Membranes: A Comparative Study

The presence of sialoglycoproteins (SGPs) in the membranes from goat (Capra aegagrus hircus), buffalo (Bubalus bubalis bubalis) and pig (Sus scrofa domestica) erythrocytes was investigated by partial purification with a chloroform-methanol extraction method followed by Sodium dodecyl sulphate - Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in comparison to human (Homo sapiens) erythrocytes. The results show that mammalian erythrocytes possess clear differences in the SGPs numbers and molecular weights although all animals studied in this experiment are from the same class i.e. mammalia. The SGPs number in human, goat, buffalo and pig are four (PAS-1 to PAS-4), ten (PAS-GI to PAS-GX), seven (PAS-BI to PAS-BVII) and four (PAS-PI to PAS-IV) respectively as indicated by staining the polyacrylamide gel with sialoglycoprotein-specific Periodic acid-Schiff's (PAS) stain. The new SGPs could be observed only after the partial purification of membrane fractions named as PAS-HI with molecular weight (Mr) 190 kDa and PAS-HII 150 kDa in human, PAS-BIA in buffalo and PAS-PIA and PAS-PIVA in pig. The gels were also stained with Coomassie brilliant blue (CBB) and Silver stain to check the contamination of other membrane proteins in the purified fractions. The quantitative distribution of SGPs was also determined by densitometry. Present study indicates that there are some basic differences in mammalian erythrocyte membrane SGPs, especially with respect to their number and molecular weights indicating major structural variations.