Bull seminal plasma phosphodiesterase. Purification and general properties

A phosphodiesterase from bull seminal plasma was purified to homogeneity. The purification procedure involved sequential column chromatographies on DEAE-Sephadex A-50, ConA-Agarose, chromatofocusing and AMP-Agarose. The final yield was about 20% with a 3000-fold purification. As indicated by chromatofocusing, the enzyme is an acidic protein (pI approximately 4.6) and owing to its interaction with Concanavalin A it is also a glycoprotein. The SDS-PAGE showed that the purified phosphodiesterase seemed to be constituted of a single polypeptide chain of about 125 kDa. The enzyme did not show an absolute substrate specificity. Thus, it was able to hydrolyze 4-nitrophenyl ester of 5'-TMP (but not of 3'-TMP), cAMP, nucleic acids as well as NAD+, ADP and ATP. According to its enzymatic properties, bull seminal plasma phosphodiesterase is to be considered an oligonucleate 5'-nucleotidohydrolase. In addition the seminal plasma phosphodiesterase also showed phosphonate esterase activity.