Dog and human acid beta-D-galactosidases are structurally similar.

The purification of dog liver acid beta-galactosidase is described. The dog enzyme migrated as a single major band on polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate, with a molecular weight of 60000. Antiserum raised against purified human liver acid beta-galactosidase cross-reacted with beta-galactosidase from dog liver, but not with those from cat liver or Escherichia coli. Tryptic peptide maps of the dog and human acid beta-galactosidases indicate that 21 of the 24 peptides observed were homologous; a similar result was obtained after chymotryptic peptide mapping. We conclude that dog and human acid beta-galactosidases are structurally similar, and that canine GM1 gangliosidosis (acid beta-galactosidase deficiency) is an excellent model for the same disease in man.