Cytosolic alanine aminotransferase (c-AAT) was purified up to 203- and 120-fold, from the liver of two freshwater teleosts Clarias batrachus (air-breathing, carnivorous) and Labeo rohita (water-breathing, herbivorous), respectively. The enzyme from both fish showed similar elution profiles on a DEAE-Sephacel ion exchange column. SDS-PAGE of purified enzymes revealed two subunits of 54 and 56 kDa, in both fish. The apparent Km values for l-alanine were 18.5+/-0.48 and 23.55+/-0.60 mM, whereas for 2-oxoglutarate the Km values were observed to be 0.29+/-0.023 and 0.33+/-0.028 mM for the enzyme from C. batrachus and L. rohita, respectively. With l-alanine as substrate, aminooxyacetic acid was found to act as a competitive inhibitor with KI values of 6.4 x 10(-4) and 3.4 x 10(-4) mM with c-AAT of C. batrachus and L. rohita, respectively. However, when 2-oxoglutarate was used as substrate, aminooxyacetic acid showed uncompetitive inhibition with similar KI values for purified c-AAT from both fish.