Separation and Characterization of Two Forms of Acetolactate Synthase from Etiolated Pea Seedlings

Acetolactate synthase (ALS) catalyzes the first reaction common to the biosynthesis of L-valine, L-leucine, and L-isoleucine. ALS is the target site of several classes of herbicides, including the sulfonylureas, the imidazolinones, and the triazolopyrimidines. Two forms of ALS (ALS I and ALS II) which have different affinity for Heparin have been separated from etiolated pea seedlings. The substrate saturation curves of both ALS I and ALS II were hyperbolic in contrast to previous reports. The two forms of ALS showed significant differences in their physical and kinetic properties. The values of $K_m$ for ALS I and ALS II were 9.0 mM and 4.8 mM, respectively. The pI values for ALS I and ALS II were determined to be 5.3 and 5.75 by isoelectric focusing, respectively. The native molecular weights for ALS I and ALS II obtained by nondenaturing gel electrophoresis and activity staining were 124 and 244 kDa, respectively. They also exhibited different sensitivity to feedback inhibition by end-product amino acids and inhibition by Cadre, an imidazolinone herbicide.