Human liver acid beta-galactosidase A2 and A3 were isolated by chromatography on concanavalin A-Sepharose 4B, Sepharose 6B, and Sepharose 4B-6-aminohexyl 1-thio-beta-D-galactopyranoside. beta-Galactosidase A2 and A3 were purified to final specific activities of 45.5 and 20.6 mumol/min per mg respectively with 4-methylumbelliferyl beta-D-galactopyranoside as substrate. 2. Form A2 had a mol.wt. of 150000 +/- 15000 (gel filtration) and appeared as a single band of protein (mol.wt 65000 +/- 1000) on electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate. 3. Form A3 had a mol.wt. (gel filtration) of 660000 +/- 66000. On electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate, form A3 appeared as a major band of protein (72% of total) of mol.wt. 65000 +/- 1000 and minor protein bands of mol.wt. 44000 +/- 1000 and 26,000 +/- 1000 and 22000 +/- 1000. 4. Gel-filtration chromatography of purified beta-galactosidase A3 generated approximately equal amounts of forms A3 and A2. beta-Galactosidase A1 was not detected by gel-filtration chromatography of partially or highly purified preparations of forms A2 and A3. 5. Both forms A2 and A3 had identical isoelectric points of 4.42 +/- 0.02. The data suggest that forms A2 and A3 are dimeric and multimeric forms of beta-galactosidase A1. 6. Amino acid analysis of beta-galactosidase A2 gave a ratio of acidic to basic amino acids of 2.6:1. 7. beta-Galactosidase A2 contained 7.5% carbohydrate by weight and sialic acid, D-galactose, D-glucosamine and D-mannose were present in the molar proportions 1.1:1.0:1.7:2.7.
