Purification and characterization of subunits of a high molecular weight human salivary mucin.

A high molecular-weight mucin was purified from human submandibular-sublingual saliva. The purity of the mucin preparation was demonstrated by the absence of other salivary proteins, by antibody reactivity and by gel electrophoresis. After reduction with mercaptoethanol a putative link component with approximate Mr 150,000 and a glycoprotein component of higher Mr could be detected by gel electrophoresis. These subunits were subsequently purified and they showed distinct differences in their amino acid compositions, demonstrating that the mucin consisted of two different subunits. The link had a number of similarities with the link component of intestinal mucin and a parotid agglutinin and has previously been shown to cross-react with antiserum to link component from intestinal mucin. Salivary and intestinal mucins may therefore have similar subunit structure.