Characterization of the isoenzymes of pig-liver esterase. 1. Chemical Studies.

Three different subunits of highly purified pig liver esterase (EC 3.1.1.1) can be separated by analytical dodecyl sulfate electrophoresis, though their relative mobilities are very similar. The same subunit bands are obtained with microsomes, in which the esterases have been labeled with the specific active-site-directed inhibitor bis(4-nitro-[14C]phenyl)phosphate. The heterogeneity of the native trimeric enzyme is much more complex, as is demonstrated by isoelectric focussing and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Fractions of esterase which were partially separated by preparative isoelectric focussing show differences in their subunit composition, their amino acid analyses, their tryptic peptide maps, and their C-terminal amino acids. From these experiments various features of the differing esterase subunits can be deduced. Based on the chemical results and on various experiments which did not indicate any secondary modification of the protein side-chains, the molecular basis of the esterase heterogeneity is discussed. We conclude that the native trimeric esterase is a mixture of numerous hybrids of at least three protein subunits with differing but closely related primary sequences. A comparison of the relative specificity of various preparations of pig liver microsomes indicates that genetic differences concerning the composition of liver esterase exist between individuals.