Heat activation of rat epididymal fat tissue acetyl-coa carboxylase is due to dephosphorylation by its endogenous phosphatase.

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase from rat epididymal fat tissue is activated by incubation at 30 C in the absence of citrate or metal ions. This activation is accompanied by a corresponding loss of 32P from the labeled enzyme, and it is not blocked by the heat-stable phosphorylase phosphatase inhibitor proteins from rabbit muscle. We have succeeded in separating an activity which activates and dephosphorylates acetyl-CoA carboxylase from the carboxylase using polyethylene glycol-6000. These results suggest that the temperature-dependent activation of acetyl-CoA carboxylase in crude or partially purified preparations results from dephosphorylation of the carboxylase by bound phosphatase.