title: Ragged N-termini and other variants of class A beta-lactamases analysed by chromatofocusing.
abstract: Four beta-lactamases excreted by Gram-positive bacteria exhibited microheterogeneity when analysed by chromatofocusing or ion-exchange chromatography. Ragged N-termini were in part responsible for the charge variants, but deamidation of an asparagine residue was also involved, at least for the Bacillus licheniformis enzyme. The activity of a contaminating proteinase could also be demonstrated in the case of Actinomadura R39 beta-lactamase. With that enzyme, proteolysis resulted in partial inactivation, but the inactivated fragments were easily separated from the active forms. With these, as with the other enzymes, the kinetic parameters of the major variants were identical with those of the mixture within the limits of experimental error, so that the catalytic properties of these enzymes can be determined with the 'heterogeneous' preparations.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Enzymologie, Université de Liège, Sart Tilman, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matagne
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Joris
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Beeumen
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Frère
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001407:Bacillus / Q000201:enzymology*; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange / Q000379:methods; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology*; D007525:Isoelectric Focusing / Q000379:methods; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013302:Streptomyces / Q000201:enzymology*; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001618:beta-Lactamases