Abstract
In this study, glutathione S-transferase (GST; EC 2.5.1.18), which is the important enzyme of the glutathione antioxidant system, which is the main intracellular antioxidant system, was purified in three steps from sheep spleen tissue; using homogenate preparation, ammonium sulfate precipitation method and affinity chromatography (glutathione-agarose) with a specific activity value of 3.67 EU mg-1, 122.3 protein fold and 3.73% yield. SDS-PAGE method was used to determine the purity level and to determine the natural molecular mass of subunits of the GST enzyme, purified from sheep spleen tissue. The molecular mass of the subunits of the sheep spleen tissue GST enzyme was calculated as approximately 26.36 kDa. In the studies carried out for the characterization of the GST enzyme purified from sheep spleen tissue; optimum pH, K-phosphate buffer pH=8.0, optimum ionic strength, K-phosphate buffer 1.0 M, stable pH, K-phosphate buffer pH = 7.0 and optimum temperature 60 oC. Lineweaver-Burk graphs were used in kinetic studies to determine the KM and Vmax values of the GST enzyme purified from sheep spleen tissue. In the kinetic studies carried out for reduced glutathione (GSH) and 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB), which are the substrates of the GST Enzyme; for GSH the KM value 0.629 mM, the Vmax value 0.056 EU mL-1, for CDNB the KM value 0.321 mM, and the Vmax value 0.129 EU mL-1 were determined.