Separation of topoisomerase I activity from the regulatory subunit of type II cyclic adenosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase.

The cAMP-containing phosphoform of the regulatory subunit (RII) of type II cAMP-dependent protein kinase from rat liver has been reported to have intrinsic DNA topoisomerase I activity. We found that highly purified RII preparations from eight different sources, including rat liver, contained no detectable topoisomerase I activity. Topoisomerase I exhibited an overlapping peak of activity with RII when rat liver extracts were fractionated by diethylaminoethyl-cellulose chromatography. Topoisomerase I activity was separated from RII by subsequent cAMP affinity chromatography. The results indicate that the regulatory subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase does not contain intrinsic topoisomerase I activity.