Beta-hydroxyaspartic acid in vitamin K-dependent proteins.

A method for the quantitation of beta-hydroxyaspartic acid in proteins is described. After hydrolysis in 6 M HCl, the beta-hydroxyaspartic acid released is quantitated on an automatic amino acid analyzer employing a pH 2.0 eluting buffer and postcolumn reaction with o-phthalaldehyde for detection. The sensitivity is about 0.01 nmol. Among vitamin K-dependent proteins, factor IX, factor X, protein C, and protein Z each contain about one residue of beta-hydroxyaspartic acid whereas protein S contains two or three residues. Prothrombin lacks beta-hydroxyaspartic acid as do a number of non-vitamin K-dependent proteins also analyzed.