Purification and properties of an acid phosphoprotein phosphatase from lactating bovine mammary gland with activity toward phosphotyrosine.

An acid phosphatase has been partially purified from lactating bovine mammary gland. Properties of this enzyme were compared with those of a well-characterized phosphoprotein phosphatase from bovine spleen. The two enzymes were similar in their activation by sulfhydryl reagents and inhibition by metal chelating agents. Both enzymes rapidly hydrolyze ATP and aromatic phosphates and are relatively inactive toward alkyl phosphates; both are tartrate-resistant phosphatases. The mammary enzyme has a low Michaelis constant for alpha s1-casein (42 microM), and thus, like the spleen enzyme, appears to be a phosphoprotein phosphatase. Finally, the spleen and mammary enzymes displayed reactivity toward phosphotyrosine, a model substrate for phosphotyrosyl protein phosphatase. Thus, the phosphatases from spleen and mammary gland are quite similar in reactivity and could possibly be similar in function.