Beta-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase: lack in ruminant liver mitochondria.

The enizyme D(-)-beta-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase has been reported to occur in all mitochondria isolated from mammalian tissues and is especially high in liver. By contrast only very low concentration of the enzyme is detectable in mitachondria from bovine and sheep liver. The amount of the enzyme in mitochondria from other ruminant tissues such as kidney and heart are comparable with those from mammalian sources. The verv low activity of beta-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase is not referable to the iniability of substrates to penetrate milochondria or to decreased electron transfer activity but rather to a lack of the enzyne in ruminant liver mitochondria.