J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 262, Issue 2, 667-671, Jan, 1987
The enzyme defect in bovine protoporphyria. Studies with purified ferrochelatase
JR Bloomer, HD Hill, KO Morton, LA Anderson-Burnham and JG Straka
Ferrochelatase was purified from the livers of normal and protoporphyria
cattle by chromatography on Blue Sepharose CL-6B in order to investigate
the enzyme defect in this disorder. The increase in specific activity (up
to 2900-fold) indicated that the normal and protoporphyria enzymes were
purified to a similar degree. The mutant enzyme had catalytic activity
which was 10 to 15% of normal ferrochelatase, although the Michaelis
constants for protoporphyrin and iron were similar. The molecular mass of
the normal and protoporphyria enzyme protein was 40 kDa as evaluated by
sodium dodecyl sulfate- polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). In
the presence of 15 mM sodium cholate, gel filtration demonstrated a similar
size. However, at a lower concentration of sodium cholate (4 mM) the
molecular mass was about 240 kDa, suggesting that the purified enzymes
aggregate under this condition. Polyvalent antibodies were raised in
rabbits using as antigens purified normal native enzyme and normal 40-kDa
protein which had been further purified by preparative SDS-PAGE. In Western
blots these antibodies complexed with both the normal and mutant 40-kDa
proteins. The amount of 40-kDa protein in normal and protoporphyria
mitochondrial fractions was also similar as evaluated by Western blots.
These studies indicate that the ferrochelatase defect in bovine
protoporphyria probably results from a point gene mutation that causes a
minor change in enzyme structure.