Formation of dissociated enzyme subunits by chemical treatment during renaturation

When iodoacetate is added to denatured muscle aldolase undergoing renaturation, a major portion of the activity in the resulting enzyme remains in the monomeric form (of about 37,000 Mr). In the absence of iodoacetate, the renatured enzyme exists entirely as the tetramer. Iodoacetate treatment of native aldolase tetramer (Mr = 160,000) does not lead to dissociation. The stabilization of the monomer by iodoacetate treatment is presumably due to …