Purification and properties of polynucleotide phosphorylase from photosynthetic bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum.

1. Polynucleotide phosphorylase [polyribonucleotide: orthophosphate nucleotidyltransferase, EC 2.7.7.8] was purified to near homogeneity from the photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodospirillum rubrum. The purified enzyme had a molecular weight of approximately 160,000, and consisted of two equivalent subunits of approximately 76,000 daltons. It catalyzed the three reactions described below. 2. In the exchange reaction of the beta-phosphate of nucleoside diphosphates with Pi by the purified enzyme in the presence of 3.3 mM Pi, 6.7 mMCl2, and 0.33 mM or 1.0 mM nucleotide at pH 8.0 and 20 degrees C, ADP, GDP, and CDP, and CDP were better substrates than UDP, while IDP and deoxyribonucleoside diphosphates hardly served as substrates. The ADP-Pi exchange activity was significantly inhibited by high concentrations of either ADP or Pi. 3. In the polymerization reaction of ribonucleoside diphosphates by the purified enzyme in the presence of 6.7 mM nucleotide and 6.7 mM MgCl2 at pH 8.0 and 20 degrees C, ADP was the best substrate; the activities relative to that with ADP were 55% with UD, 51% with CDP, and 48% with IDP, while GDP hardly served as a substrate, 4. In the phosphoryolysis reaction of polynucleoside diphosphates by the purified enzyme in the presence of 1.0 mM polynucleotide, 6.7 mM Pi, and 6.7 mM MgCl2 at pH 8.0 and 20 degrees C, poly[U] was the best substrate; the activities relative to that with poly[U] were 32% with poly[A], 28% with poly[I], 21% with poly[C], and 2% with yeast RNA, while poly[G] and yeast DNA hardly served as substrates. 5. The three kinds of activities of the purified enzyme described above were stimulated by divalent cations such as Mg2+, Mn2+, Cd2+, and Co2+.