Isolation of a multi-enzyme complex of fatty acid oxidation from Escherichia coli

A multi-enzyme complex of fatty acid oxidation has been isolated from E. coli B cells and has been purified to near homogeneity by a simple two-step procedure. The complex exhibits thiolase (EC 2.3.1.9), enoyl-CoA hydratase (EC 4.2.1.17), and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.35) activities towards short-, medium-, and long-chain substrates. The complex has been estimated to have a molecular weight of approximately 300,000 and is apparently composed of two types of subunits with molecular weights of 78,000 and 42,000.