Purification and properties of pyruvate kinase type M2 from rat lung

(1) Pyruvate kinase type M2 from rat lung has been purified 840-fold with an overall yield of 20%. The enzyme gave a single band upon SDS-electrophoresis and isoelectrofocusing and had a specific activity of 1340 U/mg protein. The homotetramer of Mr = 224000 and an isoelectric point of pH 5.8 had an amino acid composition closely resembling that of other pyruvate kinase isoenzymes type M2, except that of the chicken liver. The enzyme was crystallized. (2) The enzyme has its pH optimum at pH 6.5. The K0.5 value for phosphoenolpyruvate is 0.26 mM (nH = 1.81) which decreases in the presence of 0.2 mM fructose 1,6-bisphosphate to 0.056 mM (nH = 1.06). 1 microM fructose 1,6-bisphosphate activates the enzyme at 0.1 mM phosphoenolpyruvate half-maximally. The Km value for ADP at 1 mM phosphoenolpyruvate is 0.4 mM. The Km value for other nucleoside diphosphates increases in the order ADP less than GDP less than IDP less than UDP. (3) No evidence for an interconversion of pyruvate kinase type M2 from rat or chicken lung was found. The enzyme was neither a substrate for the cAMP-dependent protein kinase from rabbit muscle nor for the cAMP-independent protein kinase from chicken liver. Since pyruvate kinase type M2 from chicken liver is inactivated by phosphorylation catalyzed by a cAMP-independent protein kinase (Eigenbrodt, E., Abdel-Fattah Mostafa, M. and Schoner, W. (1977) Hoppe-Seyler's Z. Physiol. Chem. 358, 1047-1055) we suggest that the interconvertible form of pyruvate kinase type M2 may represent a separate form of the pyruvate kinase type M2 family.