A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF GLUTAMATE DEHYDROGENASES ISOLATED FROM BOVINE AND CHICKEN LIVERS

A comparative study of the glutamate dehydrogenases isolated from bovine and chicken liver has been made by sedimentation in the ultracentrifuge and by optical rotatory dispersion measurements. It became apparent that the very different tendencies of the enzymes to associate molecularly in solution was not reflected in the secondary structures as indicated by optical rotatory dispersion. In the latter respect the two enzymes show similar but by no means identical behaviour. The molecular weight of the active subunit of the chicken liver enzyme was found to be very similar to that of the bovine liver and dogfish liver enzymes (about 326 000). It was therefore concluded that the different tendencies to associate must be due to differences of fine structure beyond the reach of the physical methods used. © 1969.