Partial purification and characterization of thymidylate kinase from embryonic chick liver.

Thymidylate kinase from the livers of 18-day-old chick embryos was concentrated 423-fold. The purification procedure included acid precipitation, ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration on Sephadex G-100 and G-75 Super Fine, and ion-exchange chromatography on Diethylaminoethyl Sephadex A-50. This enzyme was found to be very labile but could be stabilized for long periods of time by its substrate (thymidine 5′-monophosphate) in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol. Enzymes responsible for the formation of thymidine 5′-diphosphate and thymidine 5′-triphosphate, respectively, were separated during fractionation procedures. Thymidylate kinase from chick embryo liver was found to be a single protein having a molecular weight of approximately 46,000, Michaelis constant approximately 8 × 10^?5m, and a broad pH optimum between 6.6 and 8.6. A 2–3 mm requirement of Mg²⁺ above the adenosine 5′-triphosphate concentration was shown to be necessary for maximum enzyme activity. The enzyme appears to be competitively inhibited by thymidine, thymidine 5′-diphosphate, and thymidine 5′-triphosphate and noncompetitively inhibited by adenosine 5′-diphosphate.Thymidylate kinase enzymes isolated from two stages of developing embryonic liver and adult chick liver were shown to be identical.