Purification and properties of 4-hydroxybiphenyl UDP-glucuronyltransferase from bovine liver microsomes

A UDP-glucuronyltransferase isoform glucuronizes phenolic xenobiotics such as 4-nitrophenol, and an isoform glucuronizing 4-hydroxybiphenyl has also been found in rat liver. We purified a UDP-glucuronyltransferase isoform glucuronizing 4-hydroxybiphenyl from bovine liver microsomes by solubilization with 0.7% sodium cholate followed by three column chromatographic separations using DEAE-Toyopearl 650S, UDP-hexanolamine Sepharose 4B, and hydroxyapatite. The purified bovine liver 4-hydroxybiphenyl UDP-glucuronyltransferase (named Bovine 4HBGT) had glucuronidation activities toward 4-hydroxybiphenyl and 4-methylumbelliferone but had little activity toward 4-nitrophenol and 1-naphthol. The apparent molecular mass of Bovine 4HBGT was 54,000 Da on SDS-PAGE, and this was decreased to 50,000 Da by digestion with endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H. These data suggest that Bovine 4HBGT consists of a 50,000 Da polypeptide and a high mannose type oligosaccharide chain(s) of about 4,000 Da. The NH2-terminal sequence of GT-3 was GKVLVWPVDFSXWINI. These properties of Bovine 4HBGT were very similar to those of rat UDP-glucuronyltransferase glucuronizing xenobiotics. However, the NH2-terminal sequence of Bovine 4HBGT had higher homology with that of rat liver 4-hydroxybiphenyl UDP-glucuronyltransferase than with that of rat liver 4-nitrophenol UDP-glucuronyltransferase.