J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 260, Issue 5, 2789-2793, 03, 1985
S-Adenosylhomocysteinase from rat liver. Evidence for structurally identical and catalytically equivalent subunits
T Gomi, Y Ishiguro and M Fujioka
Lines of evidence are presented which indicate that rat liver S-
adenosylhomocysteinase consists of four identical or nearly identical
subunits. Cross-linking of the enzyme with dimethyl suberimidate followed
by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis yields four
distinct protein bands with molecular weights of 47,000, 93,000, 145,000,
and 190,000. The molecular weight of the largest protein is in excellent
agreement with that of the native enzyme. Carboxypeptidase A liberates 4
mol of COOH-terminal tyrosine/mol of enzyme, and the number of
arginine-containing peptides in a tryptic digest of the enzyme is
one-fourth of that arginine residues present in the enzyme. The enzyme
reversibly binds 4 mol of the substrate adenosine in a noninteracting
manner, and the binding is associated with the reduction of 3.2 mol of
enzyme-bound NAD+. However, in the presence of dithiothreitol, the same
compound causes a time-dependent irreversible loss of enzyme activity
concomitant with the formation of 3.6 mol of enzyme-bound NADH/mol of
enzyme. Studies with adenine- labeled adenosine shows that radioactivity
corresponding to 3.8 mol of substrate is tightly bound to the inactivated
enzyme. Since the inactivation is apparently the consequence of reaction of
dithiothreitol with an enzyme-bound intermediate as revealed by the
kinetics of inactivation, these results support the conclusion that the
four subunits of rat liver S-adenosylhomocysteinase are functionally
equivalent.