THE ACTIVATION OF UREASE

1. It has been shown that the activity of solutions of twice recrystallized urease is reversibly increased by moderate heating and reversibly decreased by storage in the cold, even in the frozen state. 2. Crude extracts of jack bean meal containing potent urease undergo this same type of reversible activation by heating and inactivation by cooling. Dilution has the same potentiating effect on the activity as moderate heating. As much as a fivefold increase in activity can be obtained when a sample previously inactivated by storage for 24 hours at –10°C. is heated for 5 minutes at 60°C. 3. Solutions of crystalline urease protected by serum albumin and preserved in the cold give a constant "potential" activity over a period of more than 30 days if heated 5 minutes at 60°C. before assay. 4. The data presented have been interpreted to mean that an association between urease molecules (or between urease and other proteins) might occur, resulting in inactivation of the enzyme which would be reversed on dissociation. 5. It has been postulated that the same forces are responsible for the reversible inactivation brought about by standing at temperatures above or below the freezing point.