Purification of the heat-stable inhibitor protein of the Ca2+-activated cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase by affinity chromatography

The recently discovered heat-stable inhibitor protein of the Ca2+-activated cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (Sharma, R. K., Wirch, E. & Warg, J. H. (1978) J. Biol. Chem., in press) has been purified 238 214-fold from bovine brain extract using an affinity column of the modulator protein--Sepharose 4B conjugate. The purified sample appears to be homogeneous as judged by sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) gel electrophoresis. The protein band has a mobility corresponding to that of a polypeptide of molecular weight 68 000. Since the heat-stable inhibitor protein has a molecular weight of 70 000 under nondenaturing conditions, it suggests that it is a monomeric protein. The protein has no inhibitory activity toward the cAMP-dependent protein kinase or protein phosphatase. The purified sample has been tested for various enzyme activities which include ATPase, GTPase, cAMP phosphodiesterase, cGMP phosphodiesterase, 5'-nucleotidase, and protein kinase. None of these activities are exhibited by the purified sample.