• 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 253 (22), 8157-8161
Abstract
In acetyl-CoA carboxylase in epididymal fat tissue is subject to control by convalent modification as in the case of the liver enzyme, catalytically different forms of carboxylase should exist, independent of polymerization. Catalytically less active forms of acetyl-CoA carboxylase were demonstrated by treating epididymal fat tissue in culture with epinephrine. The catalytically less active forms of the enzyme reacted to antibody with the same efficiency as the active form of carboxylase. The less active enzyme formed by epinephrine treatment of tissues has a sedimentation constant of 30-35 S, whereas that of the enzyme from control tissue is 45 S. Incubation of the less active forms of the carboxylase with 10 mM citrate and up to 10 mg/ml of bovine serum albumin activated the enzyme without any change in the sedimentation constant. The less active forms of the carboxylase formed as a result of epinephrine treatment are not due to the depolymerization of polymeric forms (45 S) to the protomeric forms (17-20 S), but to the formation of intermediate species of carboxylase which cannot form polymeric enzyme (45 S) in the presence of high concentrations of citrate.