Studies of glucose metabolism in Bacillus subtilis. I. Purification of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from the vegetative cell and its properties in comparison with the spore enzyme.

1. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase [D-glucose-6-phosphate : NADP-+ 1-oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.49] from vegetative cells of Bacillus subtilis was purified about 2,400-fold. The purified enzyme was shown to be homogeneous as judged by chromatographic profile, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and ultracentrifugation. The correspondent enzyme from spores was also partially purified. 2. The molecular weight of the vegetative cell enzyme was estimated to be 350,000 by Sepharose 6B chromatography and sedimentation equilibrium studies, and that of its subunit was 58,000 as determined by SDS gel electrophoresis, indicating that the enzyme was found to be 240,000. 3. The vegetative cell enzyme and spore enzyme have the same Km values and pH optima. The optimum pH was about 9.2 for both enzymes and the Km values for NADP-+ and glucose-6-phosphate were determined to be 6.7 X 10-minus 6 and 7.5 X 10-minus 5M, respectively. 4. The amino acid composition of the vegetative cell enzyme was examined and was compared with those of enzymes from other sources.