Partial purification and properties of rat liver glutaminase.

The mitochondrial enzyme phosphate-dependent glutaminase was partially purified from rat liver. The enzyme had Mr 290 000 as judged by chromatography on Sephacryl S-300. After sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis of the preparation, glutaminase was tentatively identified with a peptide of Mr 73 500. The concentration-dependence on glutamine was highly sigmoidal, with half-maximum velocity at 22 mM-glutamine. Half-maximum activity was obtained with 5 mM-phosphate. The enzyme required ammonia as an obligatory activator, in agreement with previous reports on intact and sonicated mitochondria. These findings further differentiate liver glutaminase from the phosphate-dependent glutaminase present in kidney and several other tissues.