[Glutamate dehydrogenase--an activator of NAD-kinase in the rabbit liver]

An electrophoretically homogeneous preparation of a NAD-kinase activator from rabbit liver was obtained and its physico-chemical properties were investigated. The molecular mass of the monomer and oligomer, pI, number of SH-groups per enzyme subunit and some other factors were determined. The similarity of activator properties to those of glutamate dehydrogenase and the revealed glutamate dehydrogenase activity of the NAD-kinase activator permitted to identify the latter as glutamate dehydrogenase. It was demonstrated that the enzyme activates NAD-kinase 2-4 times already at the glutamate dehydrogenase: NAD-kinase ratio of 2:1. The effect of glutamate dehydrogenase on the enzyme consists in an increase of Vmax; the KmNAD value for the NAD-kinase reaction remains thereby unchanged. The physiological role of the interaction between the two enzymes is discussed.