Resolution and activity of adenylate cyclase components in a zwitterionic cholate derivative [3-[(3-cholamidopropyl) dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate].

Bovine brain adenylate cyclase was solubilized with 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate (CHAPS), sodium cholate, sodium deoxycholate, or these detergents plus (NH4)2SO4. The specific activity of the extract obtained with 13 mM CHAPS alone was several times those of the other detergent extracts with or without (NH4)2SO4. After solubilization with 13 mM CHAPS, gel filtration completely separated the catalytic unit (C) from the guanine nucleotide binding protein (G/F). C activity when assayed with 5 mM Mn2+ was 5 times that assayed with 10 mM Mg2+ and was unresponsive to GPP(NH)P. C activity was increased approximately 150% by GPP(NH)P in the presence of G/F extracted from human erythrocyte ghosts and approximately 100% by Ca2+ plus calmodulin in assays with Mg2+. On gel filtration and/or density gradient centrifugation, the physical properties of C from brain or AC- cells and G/F from bovine or pig erythrocytes in CHAPs were similar to those observed in other detergents. It appears that the use of CHAPS for solubilization of adenylate cyclase and separation of C and G/F may well prove advantageous in studies of the molecular interactions between the protein subunits and activators of the enzyme as well as for the initial purification of C.