GDH2 from a number of plant sources has been investigated (2,3,6,15,18,20,27). The enzyme appears to have a sulfhydryl (3) and metal (27) requirement, has a number of isoenzymes (25, 28), and has been found entirely (5) or partially in the mitochondrial fraction (2,15,18,20,22,28). This is a report on the localization, characterization, and isoenzymes of GDH from pumpkin cotyledons during germination. Enzyme Isolation. GDH was isolated at 2 C from 100 cotyledons ground in a mortar with 20 ml of 0.25 M sucrose in 50 mM tris-HCl buffer, pH 7.5. The slurry was passed through four layers of cheesecloth and centrifuged at 1,000g to remove debris. Additional grinding and extraction of the debris did not yield additional enzyme activity. Centrifugation of the debris-free solution at 10,000g for 15 min yielded the particulate fraction. The pale yellow supernatant fraction contained the soluble enzyme. The particulate enzyme was solubilized by osmotic shock in 10 mm phosphate, pH 7.5 (27). Attempts to detect residual enzyme activity in the organelle debris were unsuccessful. The particulate and soluble enzymes were then purified in a separate but similar manner. The extracts were heated 5 min at 60 C (1), and the precipitate was discarded. The enzymes were precipitated from the supernatant solutions with 40 to 60% saturated ammonium sulfate and then dissolved in 10 mm sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0. The solutions were dialyzed against this buffer for 16 hr at 4 C. This gave a 6-fold purification of the soluble enzyme and a 40-fold purification of the particulate enzyme. Before purification, particulate GDH was entirely inactivated in 6 days at 0 C while soluble GDH had lost only 10% of its activity. After the above purification, both enzymes retained their activity for at least 10 days at 0 C. Protein was determined by the Lowry method.
MATERIALS AND METHODSEnzyme Assay. The 3-ml reductive amination assay contained in ,umoles: ammonium chloride, 300; a-ketoglutarate, 30; NADH or NADPH, 0.25; tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 130. The oxidative amination assay contained in ,umoles: glutamate, 100; NAD or NADP, 3; tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 130. One unit of enzyme activity is defined as that amount which will cause a decrease in absorbance of 0.01 unit per min at 340 nm. Generally, 3 units of enzyme activity (60 ,tg of protein) were used, and this gave a reaction rate which was linear for 25 min. The initial reaction velocities were directly proportional to the enzyme concentration over a 10-fold range. The enzyme activity was corrected for NADH oxidase activity which never exceeded 10% of the total activity.The interference of phosphatase with GDH activity toward NADP was considered. Phosphatase activity toward p-nitrophenyl phosphate was assayed by measuring, at 410 nm, the amount of p-nitrophenol liberated (11). Phosphatase activity toward NADP was assayed by coupling the assay with alcohol dehydrogenase and ethanol (14), and the NADH produced was measured at 340 nm. Phosphatase activity never exceeded 10% of the soluble or 2.4% of the particu...