Purification and Characterization of Superoxide Dismutase from Pseudomonas polycolor

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) was purified from Pseudomonas polycolor to an electrophoretically homogeneous state and partially characterized. SOD was purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation, column chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A-50, phenyl-Toyopearl 650 M, and gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. The molecular weight and subunit molecular weight of the purified enzyme were estimated to be 40, 000 and 20, 000, respectively. The purified enzyme remained stable at pH 9.0~11.0, $25^{\circ}C$ for 40 hr, but rapidly became inactive below 9.0. SOD was stable up to $45^{\circ}C$ at pH 9.0 with about 80% relative activity, but rapidly became inactive at temperature above that. The enzyme was insensitive to cyanide and fluoride, and sensitive to hydrogen peroxide and azide. The results suggest that the enzyme be an iron-containing SOD.