The affinity of human, rabbit and bovine thrombins for sepharose-lysine and other conjugates

Human, rabbit and bovine thrombins are shown to possess marked affinities for Sepharose-lysine. Using either Xa-activated crude prothrombins (human, rabbit) or a commercial thrombin sample (bovine), the enzyme was isolated in a single chromatographic step by the affinity medium and preparations of high specific activity were obtained. The relevance of bound-lysine for the affinity of the thrombins was studied using other Sepharose conjugates with structures related to Sepharose-lysine. Using freshly activated prothrombins it was found that human and rabbit thrombin uptake required a conjugate with a spacer chain containing a minimum of four carbon atoms in length which supported a terminal amino group. As the thrombin activity aged, affinity for the terminal amino group decreased but the hydrophobic spacer chain became essential for enzyme binding. The active centre of thrombin was not involved in binding to Sepharose-lysine.