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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Direct Detection of the Acetate-forming Activity of the Enzyme Acetate Kinase
Published on: December 19, 2011
Kinetic parameters for the cleaved substrate, and enzyme and substrate stability, vary with the phosphoacceptor in
1Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Abstract:
Nine different isoenzymes and (or) isoforms of alkaline phosphatase (ALP; EC 3.1.3.1) from human tissue were studied with respect to Km and Vmax values for p-nitrophenyl phosphate (p-NPP) in seven different potential phosphoacceptors/buffers. Generally, the phosphoacceptors/buffers with the lowest affinity for p-NPP (highest Km values) gave the highest Vmax values; for the nine enzyme forms in this study, the mean Km and Vmax values were greatest in 2-(ethylamino) (EAE). The two amino-propanol buffers gave the lowest Km and Vmax values. The phosphoacceptors/buffers N-methyl-D-glucamine (MEG), diethanolamine, and Tris had intermediate Km and Vmax values. Hydrophilic liver ALP retained > 90% of its activity after 24 h at 30 degrees C in both 1.0 and 0.3 mol/L Tris and 2-amino-2-methyl-1,3-propanediol and in 0.3 mol/L MEG. This isoenzyme showed greatest inactivation upon prolonged exposure to 1.0 and 0.3 mol/L EAE, the activity at 24 h being approximately 50-66% of that at zero time. p-NPP underwent the greatest spontaneous degradation, approximately 2.5 times that of baseline levels, in 1 mol/L MEG. There was little degradation in all of the buffers tested at 0.3 mol/L or in Tris, EAE, and 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol at 1.0 mol/L.
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