Purification and properties of ornithine decarboxylase from rat liver.

Ornithine decarboxylase was purified to homogeneity, as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and polyacrylamide gel electrofocusing, about 710,000-fold with a 35% yield from the liver cytosol of thioacetamide-treated rats. The final specific activity was approximately 24,400 nmol/min/mg of protein. The apparent molecular weight of the enzyme determined by gel filtration analyses on Sephacryl S-200 was 55,000 in the presence of 0.25 M NaCl and 145,000 in its absence. The minimum molecular weight of the enzyme was determined to be 54,000 by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The isoelectric point of the enzyme was estimated as 5.7 in the presence of 8 M urea. Some catalytic properties of the enzyme were also studied.