Phospholipase B activity of a purified phospholipase A from Vipera palestinae venom

Phospholipase was isolated (in two fractions) from Vipera palestinae venom and it was shown to possess phospho- lipase A activity (hydrolyzing diacyl-sn-glycerophosphoryl- cholines, e.g., lecithin, in the 2-position) as well as lysophos- pholipase (phospholipase B) activity (hydrolyzing l-monoacyl- sn-glycerophosphorylcholines, e.g., lysolecithin, yielding free fatty acid and glycerophosphorylcholine). Each of the two purified enzyme fractions was homogeneous as judged by electrophoresis on acrylamide gel and by immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis, and both had essentially equal activities. The ratio of the specific activity, at various puri- fication stages, to the specific activity of the whole venom was the same for A activity (substrate lecithin) as for B activity (substrate lysolecithin). The enzyme has a molecular weight of 16,000, six S-S bridges, and no free thiol groups. At pH 7, dimerization was observed in the ultracentrifuge. A dissocia- tion constant of about 10-6 M was estimated. The amino acid composition for both fractions (140 amino acid residues) was found to be essentially the same. The A activity had a pH optimum at 9; B activity was low at this pH but increased steadily beyond pH 10.5. For the hydrolysis of lysolecithin the Lineweaver-Burk plot was found to be linear, giving K, = 1.1 mM and k,,, = 0.55 sec" at 37OC and pH 10. 2-Deoxy- lysolecithin was also hydrolyzed by the enzyme at pH 10, with k,, = 0.01 sec" (zero-order kinetics in the range 0.5-2.5 m). For lecithin these constants could not be determined, but at 0.25 mM substrate the hydrolysis rate (at pH 9) of lecithin was about 1000 times the hydrolysis rate of lysolecithin (at pH 10).