Purification and characterization of alkaline phosphatase from the gut of sea cucumber Stichopus japonicus

An alkaline phosphatase was purified from the gut of sea cucumber Stichopus japonicus by n-butyl alcohol extract, ammonium sulfate precipitation, ion exchange chromatography with diethylaminoethyl cellulose, gel filtration chromatography with Sephacryl S-200 and preparative electrophoresis with polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The native enzyme was estimated to be 166 ± 9 kDa and produced a single predominant band corresponding to active enzyme on nondenaturing electrophoresis, but showed 2 bands of 97 and 35 kDa on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, suggesting that the native enzyme is composed of two dissimilar subunits. The enzyme displayed maximum activity at pH 11 and 40 °C, showing narrow pH stability (pH 10–12) and thermal instability at temperature higher than 30 °C. The activity of the purified alkaline phosphatase was enhanced by Mg²⁺, whereas inhibited by Zn²⁺, Ca²⁺ and EDTA at 1 and 10 mM, suggesting its activity is in a magnesium ion-dependent manner. The product-analog WO₄ ^2? and product HPO₄ ^2? showed strong inhibitory effects on the enzyme activity. Using p-nitrophenyl phosphate as substrate, the V _max and K _m values were 24.45 μmol/L min and 5.76 mM, respectively.