Molecular characterization of nuclear basic protein HPI1, a putative precursor of human sperm protamines HP2 and HP3

The largest intermediate basic protein HPI1 (101 residues) from human sperm chromatin was isolated and characterized. The amino acid composition and sequence analysis of the protein and of tryptic peptides together with peptide mapping of endoproteinases Lys‐C and Glu‐C hydrolysates showed that the C‐terminal region (residues 45 – 101) of HPI1 is identical to protamine HP2. These structural data strongly suggest that protein HPI1 is a precursor of human sperm protamines HP2 and HP3 (57 and 54 residues, respectively) as well as of two other intermediate basic proteins HPS1 and HPS2 (69 and 66 residues, respectively) sequenced previously.