A cytosolic acetyl-CoA hydrolase (CACH) was purified from rat liver to homogeneity by a new method using Triton X-100 as a stabilizer. We digested the purified enzyme with an endopeptidase and determined the N-terminal aminoacid sequences of the two proteolytic fragments. From the sequence data, we designed probes for RT-PCR, and amplified CACH cDNA from rat liver mRNA. The CACH cDNA contains a 1668-bp ORF encoding a protein of 556 amino-acid residues (62 017 Da). Recombinant expression of the cDNA in insect cells resulted in overproduction of functional acetyl-CoA hydrolase with comparable acyl-CoA chain-length specificity and Michaelis constant for acetyl-CoA to those of the native CACH. Database searching shows no homology to other known proteins, but reveals high similarities to two mouse expressed sequence tags (91% and 93% homology) and human mRNA for KIAA0707 hypothetical protein (50% homology) of unknown function.

An acetyl-CoA hydrolase that is labile at low temperature was purified to homogeneity from the supernatant fraction of rat liver. The monomeric molecule, estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, had a molecular weight of about 63 000, while that of the purified enzyme, estimated by gel filtration, was 135 000. Thus, the enzyme consists of two subunits of identical molecular weight. On addition of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) or adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP) at 25 degrees C, the dimeric form of the enzyme aggregated to tetrameric forms (Mr 242 000 and Mr 230 000, respectively), whereas addition of adenosine 5'-monophosphate had little effect on enzyme association (Mr 145 000). When ATP was removed from the ATP-treated tetrameric enzyme by dialysis, the tetramer was mostly dissociated into the dimeric form. The apparent Km values for acetyl coenzyme A of the dimeric enzyme and tetrameric enzyme, reconstituted from the former in the presence of 2 mM ATP, were 170 microM and 60 microM, respectively. The purified dimeric enzyme was inactivated by exposure to lower temperature, especially below 10 degrees C. The various nucleotides tested partially stabilize the dimeric enzyme at low temperature, ATP being the most effective. Sucrose density gradient centrifugation showed that loss of catalytic activity by cold treatment was accompanied by dissociation of the dimer and tetramer into protomer.

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Significant increase in the activity of an acetyl-CoA hydrolase (ATP-stimulated, ADP-inhibited enzyme) in the supernatant fraction of rat liver was observed after 44-68 h of starvation (about 2-fold), and in the early stage of diabetes (about 1.6-fold), but not in the chronic stage of diabetes. The increased enzymatic activity in starved rats returned to the control level within 20 h when the animals were given laboratory chow, but not when they were given fat-free diet with a high carbohydrate content, and the enzyme activity was increased by the latter diet containing 1 ' %n thyroid powder. A single intraperitoneal injection of 3,3'5-triiodo-~-thyronine or 3,3',5,5'-tetraiodo-I>-thyronine resulted in twice the normal enzyme activity two days later, and conversely 7 days after thyroidectomy, the enzyme activity was about 60% of the control level. A single subcutaneous injection of a-@-ch1orophenoxy)isobutyric acid, a hypolipidemic drug, doubled the enzyme activity in euthyroid rats, but not in thyroidectomized rats.Of the various tissues tested besides the liver, only the kidney had detectable ATP-stimulated and ADPinhibited enzyme activity (5% of the activity in livcr cytosol). The kidney enzyme had similar kinetic and immunochemical properties to the liver enzyme.Changes in the enzyme activity in the liver in various states were closely related to the amount of enzyme present, judging from results obtained by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The physiological role of this enzyme (which hydrolyzes acetyl-CoA to acetate and CoASH) may be in maintenance of the cytosolic acetyl-CoA concentration and CoASH pool for both fatty acid synthesis and oxidation.

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