A FATTY ACID-BINDING PROTEIN OF MYCOBACTERIUM SMEGMATIS
A protein, binding especially fatty acids of 16～18 carbons, was found in a soluble fraction of Mycobacterium smegmatis, and it was purified about 690-fold by a heat-treatment, ammonium sulfate precipitations, gel filtrations through Sephadex G-50 and DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide electrophoresis revealed that this protein exists in the form of a single polypeptide chain with a molecular weight of 7,800. The order of binding ability of this protein to fatty acids were oleic acid, palmitoyl-CoA and palmitic acid in terms of quantity of fatty acids found per mg protein.
