Isolation and partial characterization of a protein with HMG-CoA reductase phosphatase activity associated with rat liver microsomal membranes.

Several rat liver HMG-CoA-reductase (HMG-CoA-Rd) phosphatase activities have been shown to be associated with the endoplasmic reticulum. These activities were not due to glycogen contamination, as judged not only from different patterns of solubilization of the microsomal membranes and the glycogen pellet but also by differential centrifugation behavior under standard conditions and in a sucrose gradient. We present evidence that at least three forms of protein phosphatase are associated with microsomal membranes: a polycation-stimulated type 2A phosphatase, a type 2C phosphatase, and a non-2A, non-2B, non-2C phosphatase. This last HMG-CoA-Rd phosphatase activity corresponding to an 85 kDa protein was partially purified by several chromatographic procedures. The IC50 value for the inhibition of the HMG-CoA-Rd phosphatase by I-2 was 10-fold higher than for the inhibition of the purified type 1 catalytic subunit from rabbit skeletal muscle. The microsomal HMG-CoA-Rd phosphatase activity was slightly affected by the protein inhibitor that inhibits type 2A activity when HMG-CoA reductase is the substrate. The HMG-CoA-Rd phosphatase activity is spontaneously active and it is not reactivated in the presence of Mg2+ or polycations. The holoenzyme does not contain the inhibitor-2 and it is not reactivated by incubation with ATP and glycogen synthase kinase-3. Proteolytic treatment of the enzyme yielded a polypeptide fragment of low Mr (37 kDa) with reduced activity. A model of holoenzymatic HMG-CoA-Rd phosphatase and its relation to the microsomal membranes is presented.