Association of bovine sperm aldolase with sperm subcellular components

The nature of the association of the glycolytic enzyme, aldolase, with mature bovine spermatozoa was investigated in comparison with bovine muscle aldolase. Bovine muscle aldolase (BMA) was optimally solubilized by 0.1% deoxycholate and purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel-filtration chromatography and phosphocellulose affinity chromatography. Bovine sperm aldolase (BSpA) was solubilized with optimal specific activity by 0.1% Triton X-100 and 50 mM sodium phosphate. Soluble BSpA represented 10% of the total aldolase activity in bovine spermatozoa. It could not be purified from other sperm components by standard procedures. The association of BSpA with sperm components involved noncovalent, ionic and hydrophobic interactions and did not involve disulfide bonds or covalent bonds. The stability of the BSpA association with intracellular substructure implies that very specific multiple-ligand bonding is involved. The Km for fructose-1-phosphate (1.7 X 10(-1) M) was higher and the activity with fructose-1,6-biphosphate relative to fructose-1-phosphate (Vmax FBP/Vmax F-1-P = 0.038) was much lower than for either liver or muscle aldolase. Kinetic analysis and subcellular associations indicated that sperm aldolase is different from other isozymes of aldolase.