Purification and preliminary characterization of L-asparaginase from Erwinia aroideae NRRL B-138.

L-Asparaginase (L-asparagine amidohydrolase EC 3.5.1.1) from Erwinia aroideae NRRL B-138 has been purified to apparent homogeneity by ammonium sulphate precipitation, chromatography on sulfopropyl-sephadex C-50 and sephadex G-200 with 22% recovery and 567-fold purification. The enzyme obtained from sulfopropyl-sephadex C-50 was unstable and lost activity within a few hours. Addition of glycerol helped in restoring the activity of the enzyme. The enzyme has an apparent molecular mass of approximately 155 kDa and has four subunits of identical molecular mass of approximately 38 kDa. The K(m) for L-asparagine is 2.8 x 10(-3) M. Enzyme shows optimal activity at 45 degrees C and pH 8.2. Energy of activation as determined from Arrhenius plot was 9.1 kcal/mol. Substrate L-asparagine and analogue L-glutamine, D-asparagine and 6 diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine provide full protection to the enzyme against thermal denaturation.

Mechanistic studies on carboxypeptidase A from goat pancreas Part II: Evidence for carboxyl group.

Studies with substrate analogues and the pH optimum indicated the involvement of carboxyl group in the active site of goat carboxypeptidase A. Chemical modification of the enzyme with 1-cyclohexyl-3-(2-morpholinoethyl) carbodiimide methoI -p-toluene sulphonate, a carboxyl specific reagent, led to loss of both esterase and peptidase activities. Protection studies showed that this carboxyl group was in the active site and was protected by ßphenylpropionic acid and glycyl-L-tyrosine. Kinetic studies also confirmed the involvement of carboxylic group because the enzyme modification with water soluble carbodiimide was a two step reaction which excluded the possibility of tyrosine or lysine which are known to give a one step reaction with this reagent.

Product stabilization of the two forms of carboxypeptidase A from buffalo pancreas.

The two forms of buffalo carboxypeptidase A lose a part of their activity when incubated at their optimal temperature. Both the forms are protected from heat denaturation by L-phenylalanine, one of the reaction products while the other reaction product hippuric acid provides only limited protection. It has also been shown that L-phenylalanine and hippuric acid bind at the same site of the enzyme and that the release of L-phenylalanine follows that of hippuric acid. On this basis, a new mechanism for the hydrolysis of acyldipeptides by carboxypeptidase A has been proposed.

Mechanistic studies on carboxypeptidase A from goat pancreas Part I: Role of tyrosine residue at the active site.

Chemical modification of carboxypeptidase Ag1 from goat pancreas with Nacetylimidazole or iodine led to loss of enzymic activity. This loss in activity could be prevented when chemical modification was carried out in the presence of β-phenylpropionic acid or substrate NCbz-glycyl-L-phenylalanine, thus suggesting a tyrosine residue at the active site. Chemical modification of tyrosine was confirmed by spectral and kinetic studies. While tyrosine modification destroyed peptidase activity, esterase activity of the enzyme remained unchanged thus indicating non-involvement of tyrosine residue in ester hydrolysis.