Characterization of superoxide dismutases purified from either anaerobically maintained or aerated Bacteroides gingivalis.

Superoxide dismutases (SODs) were purified from extracts of either anaerobically maintained or aerated Bacteroides gingivalis. Each purified enzyme (molecular weight, 46,000) was a dimer composed of two subunits of equal sizes. SOD from anaerobically maintained cells (anaero-SOD) contained 1.79 g-atom of Fe and 0.28 g-atom of Mn, and SOD from aerated cells (aero-SOD) contained 1.08 g-atom of Mn and 0.36 g-atom of Fe. Spectral analysis showed that anaero-SOD had the characteristic of Fe-SOD and that aero-SOD had that of Mn-SOD. Both enzyme preparations contained three isozymes with identical isoelectric points. On the basis of inactivation of SOD by H2O2, it was found that aero-SOD consisted of one Mn-SOD and a small quantity of two Fe-SODs, whereas anaero-SOD contained only Fe-SOD. However, each apoprotein from anaero-SOD and aero-SOD, prepared by dialysis in guanidinium chloride plus 8-hydroxyquinoline, showed only one protein band each with the same isoelectric point on an isoelectric focusing gel. Subsequent dialysis of both apoenzymes with either MnCl2 or Fe(NH4)2(SO4)2 restored the activity. These reconstituted SODs showed only one protein band with SOD activity on native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Furthermore, the two enzymes had similar amino acid compositions, and their amino-terminal sequences were identical through the first 12 amino acids. These results suggest that the three isozymes of anaero-SOD and aero-SOD in B. gingivalis are formed from a single apoprotein.