Studies of the structure of fructose-6-phosphate 2-kinase:fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase

Some physicochemical properties of a homogeneous preparation of a bifunctional enzyme, fructose-6-phosphate 2-kinase:fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase, were determined. The molecular weight of the enzyme is 101 000 as determined by high-speed sedimentation equilibrium. The molecular weight of dissociated enzyme is 55 000 in 6 M guanidinium chloride by sedimentation equilibrium and in sodium dodecyl sulfate by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A value of 4.7 was observed for the isoelectric point. Tryptic peptide maps and high-performance liquid chromatography of the trypsin-digested enzyme revealed approximately 60 peptides. Amino acid analysis of the enzyme shows that it contains 27 lysine and 36 arginine residues per 55 000 daltons. No free N-terminal amino acid residue was detectable, suggesting that it is blocked. Hydrolysis of the enzyme by carboxypeptidases A and B releases tyrosine followed by histidine and arginine, indicating that the amino acid sequence at the carboxyl terminus is probably -Arg-His-Tyr. Tryptic digestion of [32P]phosphofructose-6-phosphate 2-kinase:fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase yields a 32P-labeled peptide detected by tryptic peptide mapping and high-performance liquid chromatography. Thermolysin digestion of CNBr-cleaved 32P-enzyme also yields a single 32P-peptide. These results indicate that fructose-6-phosphate 2-kinase:fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase is a dimer of 55 000 daltons and the subunits are very similar, if not identical.