THE PH-DEPENDENCE OF RAT-LIVER RNA POLYMERASE-I AND POLYMERASE-II
No Thumbnail Available
Date
1980
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The effect of pH on the stability and activity of rat liver RNA polymerases I (A) and II (B) was studied. Both enzymes are irreversibly inactivated in buffer solutions below pH 5.0. Km values of the 2 enzymes are constant between pH 6.5 and 8.7, but a 2- to 3-fold increase is observed between pH 8.7 and 9.7. The Vmax vs. pH profiles are bell-shaped curves indicating the participation of 2 ionizing groups with apparent pKa values of 6.5 and 9.8 for enzyme I and 6.7 and 9.9 for enzyme II. Both enzymes are inactivated by photooxidation in the presence of Rose Bengal. The above pKa corresponds to the imidazole of a histidine residue and an amino group of a lysine residue.