Kinetic properties and characteristics of mouse liver mitochondrial asparagine aminotransferase

Mouse liver asparagine aminotransferase has been found to be a mixture of enzyme forms having a cytosolic component and a mitochondrial component. The molecular weight of the mitochondrial enzyme is 70,800. The mitochondrial asparagine aminotransferase is strongly inhibited by aminooxyacetate. It is less affected by D-cycloserine but a small amount of inhibition is observed. Cysteine strongly inhibits the enzyme as do several sulfhydryl modifying reagents. The activities of the cytosolic and mitochondrial aminotransferases have been separated, and the kinetic properties of the mitochondrial form determined. The mouse liver mitochondrial asparagine aminotransferase is fairly specific for asparagine, utilizing very few amino acids as alternate amino donors and none to a great extent. The keto acid specificity is very broad, but glyoxylate is one of the most active amino group acceptors. The kinetic properties of the mitochondrial enzyme are also reported here and the data indicate strong substrate and product inhibition. Abortive complex formation may account for the deviation of the double reciprocal plots from the expected pattern.