Abstract
Acylphosphatase (acylphosphate phosphohydrolase, EC 3.6.1.7) was purified from guinea-pig muscle by a procedure involving immuno-affinity chromatography and a subsequent ion-exchange chromatography. This purification technique gave an overall yield of about 60% and permitted the isolation of three molecular forms with acylphosphatase activity, with a distribution greatly resembling those found in horse and turkey muscle. The main form appears to be very similar to the corresponding form in horse and turkey muscle, as indicated by amino acid composition, end-group analysis, the presence of glutathione as a mixed disulphide in almost the same stoichiometric ratio and kinetic analysis. From turnover data, the main form of acylphosphatase in guinea-pig muscle exhibits a degradation constant of 0.10 day-1, corresponding to a half-life of 6.8 days. These values are very close to those found for muscle total soluble proteins.