RAPID ENRICHMENT OF CHAPS-SOLUBILIZED UDP-GLUCOSE - (1,3)-BETA-GLUCAN (CALLOSE) SYNTHASE FROM BETA-VULGARIS L BY PRODUCT ENTRAPMENT - ENTRAPMENT MECHANISMS AND POLYPEPTIDE CHARACTERIZATION

Rapid enrichment of CHAPS-solubilized UDP-glucose: (1,3)-beta-glucan (callose) synthase from storage tissue of red beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is obtained when the preparation is incubated with an enzyme assay mixture, then centrifuged and the enzyme released from the callose pellet with a buffer containing EDTA and CHAPS (20-fold purification relative to microsomes). When centrifuged at high speed (80,000g), the enzyme can also be pelleted in the absence of substrate (UDP-Glc) or synthesis of callose, due to nonspecific aggregation of proteins caused by excess cations and insufficient detergent in the assay buffer. True time-dependent and substrate-dependent product-entrapment of callose synthase is obtained by low-speed centrifugation (7,000-11,000g) of enzyme incubated in reaction mixtures containing low levels of cations (0.5 millimolar Mg2+, 1 millimolar Ca2+) and sufficient detergent (0.02% digitonin, 0.12% CHAPS), together with cellobiose, buffer, and UDP-Glc. Entrapment conditions, therefore, are a compromise between preventing nonspecific precipitation of proteins and permitting sufficient enzyme activity for callose synthesis. Further enrichment of the enzyme released from the callose pellet was not obtained by rate-zonal glycerol gradient centrifugation, although its sedimentation rate was greatly enhanced by inclusion of divalent cations in the gradient. Preparations were markedly cleaner when product-entrapment was conducted on enzyme solubilized from plasma membranes isolated by aqueous two-phase partitioning rather than by gradient centrifugation. Product-entrapped preparations consistently contained polypeptides or groups of closely-migrating polypeptides at molecular masses of 92, 83, 70, 57, 43, 35, 31/29, and 27 kilodaltons. This polypeptide profile is in accordance with the findings of other callose synthase enrichment studies using a variety of tissue sources, and is consistent with the existence of a multi-subunit enzyme complex.