Energy enzymes of the flight muscle of the house sparrow, Passer domesticus--III. Comparative physical properties of heart and flight muscle lactate dehydrogenase

Purification of heart (LDH-4) and flight muscle (LDH-2 and LDH-3) lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes from the house sparrow, Passer domesticus, has been accomplished. Although these isoenzymes electrophoretically migrate reversed to most other vertebrate LDH isoenzymes, comparison of the amino acid compositions of LDH-4 and LDH-2-LDH-3 fails to reveal the basis for their reversed electrophoretic migration. Amino acid compositions did reveal mol. wts between 141,000-142,000 as well as vp of 0.744 ml/g (LDH-4) and 0.745 ml/g (LDH-2-LDH-3). SDS-gel electrophoresis yielded single bands for each preparation with mol. wts of 35,000 suggesting that LDH in this species exists as a tetramer. LDH-4 has a lower Km for both pyruvate (0.005 mM) and NADH (0.002 mM) than does LDH-2-LDH-3 (0.062 mM for pyruvate, 0.013 mM for NADH).