Isozyme composition and phosphorylation of brain phosphofructokinase

Abstract Rabbit brain phosphofructokinase was purified to homogeneity by a rapid procedure involving affinity chromatography and gel filtration. The enzyme consists of hybrids of the three phosphofructokinase subunit types C, A, and B. The molecular weights of these subunits are 86,000, 84,000, and 80,000, respectively; they are present in brain phosphofructokinase in a ratio of approximately 5:4:1.5. The enzyme as isolated from rabbit brain contains 0.16–0.18 mol phosphate per mole of subunit; another 0.4–0.5 mol phosphate per mole subunit can be incorporated in vitro in the presence of the catalytic subunit of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. The initial rate of phosphorylation is increased by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate or AMP and decreased by citrate or high concentrations of ammonium sulfate. All three subunit types are phosphorylated in vitro , and the phosphorylation site on each subunit is sensitive to cleavage by trypsin at a terminal region of each subunit. However, these sites show different relative rates of phosphorylation in vitro in the presence of ammonium sulfate. In vitro phosphorylation of brain phosphofructokinase had no affect on specific activity, inhibition by ATP, or activation by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate.