Assembly of subcomponents C1r and C1s of first component of complement: electron microscopic and ultracentrifugal studies.

Abstract Monomeric C1s (Mr, 85,000; s20,w, 4.3S), a subcomponent of first component of complement (C1), the dimer (Mr, 170,000; s20,w, 6.7 S) of C1r, another subcomponent, and the tetrameric complex (C1r,C1s)2 (Mr, 340,000; s20,w, 8.7 S) are elongated molecules. Hydrodynamic equivalents of cylindrical shape have a diameter of 3.3 nm and lengths of 20 nm for C1s, 36 nm for (C1r)2, and 64 nm for (C1r,C1s)2. In electron micrographs the C1r,C1s complex appears as a chain composed of six to eight globular domains with a contour length of 51 nm. A structure is proposed in which (C1r)2 forms a core to which C1s protomers are associated at both ends. The C1 complex (s20,w, 16.3 S) reconstituted from C1q, C1r, and C1s dissociates under the conditions used for electron microscopy. Some features of the C1 complex are revealed in the dissociation products.