Purification of a Soluble Cytockinin-binding Protein from Etiolated Mung Bean Seedlings

A cytokinin-binding protein (CBP) was purified from a crude extract of etiolated mung bean seedlings by a protocol involving affinity chromatography on benzyladenine-linked Sepharose 4B, ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A50, and gel filtration on Sphacryl S-400. The molecular weight was estimatd to be about 200,000 by gel filtration. CBP appeared as two bands corresponding to molecular weights of about 45,000 and 48,000 on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The dissociation constant for benzyladenine was 7.5 x 10^-7 M. ¹⁴C-Benzyladenine-binding to CBP was reversible and could be inhibited by the addition of kinetin or trans-zeatin. Adenine, AMP, and ADP had no inhibitory effect on the binding of ¹⁴C-benzyladenine to CBP but the addition of ATP to the assay mixture enhanced the binding.