Purification and immunochemical characterization of malate synthase from Euglena gracilis

Malate synthase (EC 4.1.3.2) from dark-grown Euglena gracilis was purified to homogeneity by the criterion of polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. The enzyme was released from acetate-grown cells by treatment with ultrasonic waves and purified from broken-cell suspensions by high-speed centrifugation and (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, followed by gel-filtration on Sepharose 6B. The final enzyme preparation was purified 190-fold compared with the crude extract. The mol.wt. of the enzyme was about 350000 as determined by gel filtration on Sepharose 6B. Treatment with sodium dodecyl sulphate and urea dissociated the enzyme into subunits of mol.wt. 175000. The pH optimum for the enzyme was 8.0 and the Km values for glyoxylate and acetyl-CoA were 50 and 80 micron respectively. Antibodies raised to the purified enzyme were shown to be monospecific by radiochemical immunoassay. Euglena anti-(malate synthase) tested on Ouchterlony double-diffusion gels gave a sharp precipitation band against acetate-grown Escherichia coli, but no immunological correspondence was observed with acetate-grown Chlorella fusca, Zea mays (maize) scutella or purified malate synthase from Ricinus communis.