TIME COURSE KINETICS OF ACID PHOSPHATASE AND b-GALACTOSIDASE OF STARVED E. COLI CELLS

H. Zanna¹, M.A. Milala¹, A.J. Nok², P. Wuyep³ and E. Amlabu²

¹Department of Biochemistry, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria.

²Department of Biochemistry, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

³Department of Biological Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

E-mail: mohammedmilala@yahoo.com.

ABSTRACT

The time course for the production of acid phosphatase and b-galactosidase in starved E. coli was investigated. E. coli cells were starved by growing the cells in basic medium containing 2% glycerol. b-galactosidase production was induced by 0.002M lactose. Acid phosphatase and b-galactosidase activities were assayed using PNPP and ONPG respectively. Time course kinetics was monitored every hour for nine hours and solid (NH₄)₂SO₄ was used to precipitate the two enzymes at 30-55% and 20-35% respectively. SDS-PAGE of the crude and (NH₄)₂SO₄ of partially purified enzymes was also carried out. Results revealed no correlation in terms of the time course kinetics between the two enzymes. However, the two enzymes belong to the same group of proteins that can be precipitated by (NH₄)₂SO₄.