Purification and some properties of carbonic anhydrase from bovine skeletal muscle

Procedures for the purification of bovine muscle carbonic anhydrase (isoenzyme III) are described. The purified enzyme has a molecular weight near 29,000 and contains one Zn2+ ion per molecule. The sedimentation coefficient, s(0)20,w, is 2.8 X 10(-13) s, the isoelectric pH is 8.5, and A280(0.1%) = 2.07 cm-1. The CO2 hydration activity, expressed as kcat/Km, is about 1.5% of that of human isoenzyme I (or B) and about 0.3% of that of human isoenzyme II (or C) at pH 8 and 25 degrees C. The activity is nearly independent of pH between pH 6.0 and 8.6. The muscle enzyme is weakly inhibited by the sulfonamide inhibitor, acetazolamide, whereas some anions, particularly sulfide and cyanate, are efficient inhibitors. Bovine carbonic anhydrase III contains five thiol groups, two of which react readily with Ellman's reagent without effect on the catalytic activity. A reinvestigation of the amino acid sequences of cysteine-containing tryptic peptides has shown that cysteine residues occur at sequence positions 66, 183, 188, 203, and 206.