Regulatory properties of rabbit liver phosphorylase kinase

1. Purified native rabbit liver phosphorylase kinase becomes activated during the assay of its activity while low molecular weight forms of the same enzyme do not. 2. The activation requires ATP and magnesium ions, suggesting the phosphorylation of the enzyme by a protein kinase as the mechanism involved. 3. The activation of the enzyme can be reverted by the action of a type I protein phosphatase isolated from the same tissue. 4. The activation can also be catalyzed by the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase in a process that requires a much lower ATP concentration to proceed. 5. The activation is believed to be due to an autocatalytic phosphorylation of phosphorylase kinase itself. In support of this hypothesis are the regulation of the process through calcium ions, the low levels of endogenous protein kinase detected in the purified preparation, the high ATP concentrations required in the absence of cAMP dependent protein kinase and the fact that the process cannot be blocked by an excess of the heat stable inhibitor specific for the later enzyme. 6. The low molecular weight forms of the enzyme on their side are not affected by the action of neither protein phosphatase 1 nor cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase. 7. Both activated and nonactivated phosphorylase kinase are partially dependent on calcium ions, the affinity of the former being higher than that of the latter. The low molecular forms do not require calcium ions to express their activity.