Developmental changes of chicken liver AMP deaminase.

The AMP deaminase activity measured in crude chicken liver extract did not change significantly during development. The livers of 10- and 14-day chick embryos, 1-day, 5-, 10- and 16-week-old chickens and adult hens were examined for the existence of multiple forms of AMP deaminase. Phosphocellulose column chromatography revealed the existence of two peaks of enzyme activity in the liver of 10- and 16-week-old chickens and adult hens. Kinetic studies with the preparations of AMP deaminase revealed sigmoid-shaped substrate-saturation curves at all developmental stages and hyperbolic-shaped saturation curves for the enzyme form appearing in 10-week-old chickens. All AMP deaminases investigated were susceptible to activation by ATP and inhibition by Pi. Kinetic and regulatory properties as well as pH optima of all the enzyme preparations tested indicate that AMP deaminase isolated from the embryos and from 1-day-old chicks was similar to the form I isolated from adult hens and differed significantly from the form II of this enzyme.