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Kinetic studies of yeast alcohol dehydrogenase with NAD+ and ethanol, hexanol or decanol as substrates invariably result in non-linear Lineweaver-Burk plots if the alcohol is the variable substrate. The kinetic coefficients determined from secondary plots are consistent with an ‘equilibrium random-order‘ mechanism for extremely low alcohol concentrations and for all alcohols, the transformation of the ternary complexes being the rate-limiting step of the reaction. This mechanism also applies to long-chain substrates at high concentrations, whereas the rate of the ethanol-NAD+ reaction at high ethanol concentrations is determined by the dissociation of the enzyme-NADH complex. The dissociation constants for the enzyme-NAD+ complex and for the enzyme-alcohol complexes obtained from the kinetic quotients satisfactorily correspond to the dissociation constants obtained by use of other techniques. It is suggested that the non-linear curves may be attributed to a structural change in the enzyme itself, caused by the alcohol.

On the basis of photochemical generation of O2.- and the tetrazolium/formazan system as indicating reaction an assay for SOD was developed which allows the determination of initial rate velocities of the enzyme. This was achieved by a special apparatus yielding the continuous registration of product formation simultaneously with the photochemical generation of O2.-. The investigation of the indicating reaction revealed that the reduction of nitro blue tetrazolium chloride to formazan is stoichiometrical with respect to riboflavin/methionine generated O2.- above pH 9. On this basis, an activity unit of SOD can be defined as real substrate consumption. One unit of the enzyme causes a decrease in the formation of formazan of 1 mumol/min under defined conditions.

The adsorption of 8 enzymes to polyaminomethylstyrene was studied. While lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase exhibit a relatively low affinity to the carrier, alcohol dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase and urease were found to form stabile complexes with the polymer that are enzymatically active. Adsorbed urease and beta-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, are still active after several weeks; the other preparations lose their activity soon. It can be shown by the example of yeast alcohol dehydrogenase that the activity loss following adsorption is caused possibly by a process of reorientation of already bound enzyme molecules or by the increasing enzyme coverage of the carrier, with the active centres becoming more and more inaccessible for the substrate. During the substrate conversion catalysed by the alcohol dehydrogenase-polyaminomethylstyrene complex, a small amount of the enzyme is again detached from the carrier. The activity rises to a certain extent in the supernatant but drops to zero again. The stability of the adsorbed urease is distinctly increased compared with the dissolved enzyme. For the pH optimum and the KM value there are no differences between the two preparations. Continuous application of polyaminomethylstyrene-bound beta-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase and urease, respectively, in a column shows that both preparations have unchanged enzymatic activities even after running times of 5 and 24 days, respectively.