MOLECULAR ASSOCIATION OF HEMOCYANIN PRODUCED BY X-RAYS AS OBSERVED IN THE ULTRACENTRIFUGE

1. When normal, monodisperse hemocyanin (60.5S) from Limulus Rolyphemus was irradiated in neutral buffer with x-rays, several new, more rapidly sedimenting ultracentrifugal components (86S, 107S, 122S) were produced, with a corresponding loss in the amount of the unaffected protein. The amount of the effect was roughly proportional to the amount of irradiation. 2. The new resolvable components apparently represented an association of the primary particles into aggregates of 2, 3, and 4 primary particles respectively. 3. The proportional amount of hemocyanin affected decreased almost to the vanishing point as the concentration of the protein was raised to high levels. 4. The absolute effect, i.e. the total number of particles affected in a given volume, increased with the concentration of hemocyanin, at least for concentrations below 15 per cent. 5. The presence of 33 per cent horse serum during irradiation inhibited the effect on the hemocyanin almost completely, with hemocyanin concentrations of both 0.8 and 14 per cent. 6. The presence of 2.8 per cent egg albumin during irradiation lowered the effect by about 70 per cent in the case of dilute preparations (0.8 per cent hemocyanin), but by only about 25 per cent in the case of 14 per cent solutions. 7. A lowering of the solution's oxygen tension during irradiation enhanced the effect, almost doubling it in some cases. 8. The probable theoretical significance of these and other observations are discussed in the text.