Functional organization of mammalian hexokinases: both N- and C-terminal halves of the rat type II isozyme possess catalytic sites

Previous work has shown that catalytic function is associated exclusively with the C-terminal half of the Type I isozyme of mammalian hexokinase. In contrast, we now demonstrate that both halves of the Type II isozyme possess comparable catalytic activities. Mutation of a catalytically important Ser residue to Ala at analogous positions in either the N- or the C-terminal halves (S155A or S603A, respectively) of the rat Type II isozyme resulted in approximately 60% reduction in specific activity of the enzyme, with more than 90% reduction in the doubly mutated enzyme (S155A/S603A). Catalytic activity was retained in a chimeric hexokinase comprising the N-terminal half of Type II hexokinase and catalytically inactive (by site-directed mutation) C-terminal half of the Type I isozyme. The N- and C-terminal catalytic sites of Type II hexokinase are similar in V(max) and K(m) (approximately equal to 130 microM) for glucose; however, the N-terminal site has a lower (0.45 vs 1.1 mM) K(m) for ATP, is slightly more sensitive to inhibition by the product analog 1,5-anhydroglucitol-6-P, and is much more sensitive to inhibition by P(i). It is suggested that the Type II isozyme most closely resembles the 100-kDa hexokinase which resulted from duplication and fusion of a gene encoding an ancestral 50-kDa hexokinase and which was the precursor for the contemporary Type I, Type II, and Type III mammalian isozymes. Subsequent evolutionary changes could then have led to functional differentiation of the N- and C-terminal halves, as seen with the Type I (and possibly the Type III) isozyme.

The inactivation of hexokinase activity does not prevent glucose repression in Candida utilis

High hexokinase activity was not related to glucose repression in Candida utilis IGC 3092. The addition of Cibacron Blue 3G-A to growing cells in batch culture led to a permanent in vivo hexokinase inactivation, decreased growth rate and inhibited alcohol dehydrogenase. Hexokinase inactivation up to 90% did not alleviate glucose repression of alpha-glucosidase, as has been described for Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other yeasts. Moreover, when cells were physiologically derepressed by growing them in a chemostat at low glucose concentrations, the highest hexokinase activity was shown by the derepressed cells, and decreased as repression increased. Thus, in our strain of C. utilis, hexokinase activity was inversely proportional to glucose repression.

High Km glucose-phosphorylating (glucokinase) activities in a range of tumor cell lines and inhibition of rates of tumor growth by the specific enzyme inhibitor mannoheptulose

Differences in modes of control of glycolysis in tumor cells, compared with normal cells, have suggested that phosphofructokinase may not catalyse the rate-controlling step. Instead, hexokinase activity may assume a more important regulatory role. Hexokinase activities are consistently lower than those of phosphofructokinase in tumor cells, and the former enzyme may be saturated with its substrate (M. Board et al., Biochem. J. 265: 503-509, 1990). The present work has focused on the glucose-phosphorylation step in tumor cell glycolysis. A range of eight human tumor cell-lines, one human tumor tissue, and four rat tumor cell lines were found to have an additional glucose-phosphorylating activity, with properties similar to hepatic glucokinase. Maximal activities range from 1.1-20 nmol/min/mg cell protein, and the activity is consistently absent from any untransformed cell line or tissue tested, except rat liver tissue (18 nmol/min/mg cell protein). Tumor cell glucokinase activity has been characterized by its high Km for glucose (8-11.8 mM); inhibition by the specific glucokinase inhibitor, mannoheptulose (I50, 12.5 mM); and lack of inhibition by 10 mM glucose-6-phosphate. Mannoheptulose also causes inhibition of glucose uptake by tumor cells (25-75% at 30 mM mannoheptulose) and inhibition of rates of growth of cultured tumor cell lines (I50, 21.4 mM). Rates of growth of human tumors in experimental animals are dramatically reduced (by 65-79%) by a dose of 1.7 mg/g mannoheptulose daily for 5 days. The potential of the naturally occurring sugar, mannoheptulose (which is purified from avocados and is assumed to be of low toxicity), as a cancer treatment is discussed.

Different properties of the mitochondrial and cytosolic hexokinases in maize roots

After tissue homogenization, 43% of the total hexokinase activity found in maize radicles was recovered in the mitochondrial fraction and 35% was soluble, in the cytosol. The maize submitochondrial particles obtained after mitochondrial sonication retained a high hexokinase activity. The mitochondrial respiration (state 4 rate) was activated by glucose. This activation was blocked by carboxyatractyloside (0.5 mM) and by oligomycin (2 micrograms/ml). The affinities for ATP and glucose of both soluble and membrane-bound maize hexokinases are similar to those of yeast hexokinase. The Km for ATP of these different forms of hexokinase varied between 0.15 and 0.37 mM, and the Km for glucose between 0.05 and 0.13 mM. A major difference between the two maize hexokinase forms is that only the mitochondrial enzyme was strongly inhibited by ADP (Ki 0.04 mM). The soluble forms of hexokinase found both in the cytosol of maize radicles and in yeast are not inhibited by ADP. In a previous report [de Meis, Grieco and Galina (1992) FEBS Lett. 308, 197-201] it was shown that the mitochondrial F1-F0-ATPase can use glucose 6-phosphate and yeast hexokinase as an ATP regenerating system. We now show that the membrane-bound hexokinase and glucose 6-phosphate can also serve as an ATP regenerating system for the mitochondria of maize radicles provided that the ADP concentration is kept below 0.05 mM. Higher ADP concentrations inhibit the reverse reaction of the mitochondrial hexokinase.

Intracellular damage in yeast cells caused by photodynamic treatment with toluidine blue

The positively charged photosensitizer toluidine blue (TB) can induce loss of clonogenicity in Kluyveromyces marxianus. Previous studies have revealed that, as a consequence of the localization of this dye at the cell surface, photodynamic action results in extensive damage at the level of the plasma membrane. In this paper, a study is reported on the effect of photodynamic treatment with TB on intracellular enzymes. It is shown that treatment with TB and light resulted in the inhibition of alcohol dehydrogenase, cytochrome c oxidase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and hexokinase. Photodynamic treatment also lowered the ATP levels. The ATP levels could be partially restored in the presence of glucose but not with ethanol. Toluidine blue binding experiments revealed that photodynamic treatment caused a rapid increase in the amount of cell-associated dye. Moreover, it also appeared that this treatment decreased the binding of TB to the cell surface. It is concluded that TB enters the cell during the first minutes of illumination, whereafter intracellular enzymes are inactivated. The data indicate that photodynamic damage of intracellular sites contributes to the loss of viability.

Hexose-6-kinases in germinating honey locust cotyledons: substrate specificity of D-fructo-6-kinase

Extracts of the cotyledons of germinated honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) seeds, which contain galactomannan as a reserve polysaccharide in the endosperm, were fractionated by chromatography and the fractions examined for the presence of a specific manno-6-kinase which could phosphorylate the D-mannose released by hydrolysis of galactomannan. One particulate hexokinase (the major hexose-6-kinase fraction) and two soluble hexokinase fractions (the minor portion), as well as a soluble fructo-6-kinase fraction, were initially separated. From chromatography, electrophoresis and kinetic studies, no evidence for a specific manno-kinase was obtained. This and the level and kinetic behaviour of the particulate hexokinase implicated it as the enzyme catalysing the phosphorylation of released D-mannose. The fructo-kinase activity was further separated into three fractions. Kinetic studies on one of these with native and synthetic substrates indicated that the structural requirements for the monosaccharide substrate were a beta-D-anomeric 2-OH in the furanose ring, a 4-OH trans to the D-5-CH2OH and a -CH2OH substituent on C2 (trans to the 5-CH2OH) which could be modified. The orientation of the hydroxyl on C-3 had only a limited effect.

The 50-kDa glucose 6-phosphate-sensitive hexokinase of Schistosoma mansoni

Hexokinase has been purified from adult Schistosoma mansoni worms and the activity shown to be associated with a single protein species having an M(r) about 50,000. This protein is recognized on Western blots probed with antisera against rat Type I hexokinase or against a recombinant S. mansoni hexokinase that had been expressed in Escherichia coli using a previously cloned cDNA. An 18-residue N-terminal sequence determined for the purified S. mansoni hexokinase is identical to that deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the cDNA, consistent with the view that the cloned cDNA encodes the hexokinase characterized in the present study. The S. mansoni enzyme has a relatively low Km (approximately 60 microM) for glucose and is sensitive to inhibition (competitive versus ATP, Ki approximately 50 microM) by its product, glucose 6-phosphate (Glc-6-P). With these kinetic properties and 50 kDa molecular mass, S. mansoni hexokinase resembles the ancestral hexokinase predicted to have given rise, by gene duplication and fusion, to the present day 100-kDa Glc-6-P-sensitive mammalian hexokinases. The schistosomal hexokinase represents the first 50-kDa Glc-6-P-sensitive hexokinase whose sequence has been obtained. The schistosomal hexokinase does not bind to mitochondria, consistent with its lack of a hydrophobic segment at the N terminus which is required for binding of the mammalian Type I and II isoenzymes to mitochondria. The marked Crabtree effect exhibited by S. mansoni cercariae may be at least partly attributed to the expression of rather high levels of a hexokinase having a high affinity for glucose but only a moderate sensitivity to product inhibition by Glc-6-P.

Trehalose-6-phosphate hydrolase of Escherichia coli

The disaccharide trehalose acts as an osmoprotectant as well as a carbon source in Escherichia coli. At high osmolarity of the growth medium, the cells synthesize large amounts of trehalose internally as an osmoprotectant. However, they can also degrade trehalose as the sole source of carbon under both high- and low-osmolarity growth conditions. The modes of trehalose utilization are different under the two conditions and have to be well regulated (W. Boos, U. Ehmann, H. Forkl, W. Klein, M. Rimmele, and P. Postma, J. Bacteriol. 172:3450-3461, 1990). At low osmolarity, trehalose is transported via a trehalose-specific enzyme II of the phosphotransferase system, encoded by treB. The trehalose-6-phosphate formed internally is hydrolyzed to glucose and glucose 6-phosphate by the key enzyme of the system, trehalose-6-phosphate hydrolase, encoded by treC. We have cloned treC, contained in an operon with treB as the promoter-proximal gene. We have overproduced and purified the treC gene product and identified it as a protein consisting of a single polypeptide with an apparent molecular weight of 62,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme hydrolyzes trehalose-6-phosphate with a Km of 6 mM and a Vmax of at least 5.5 mumol of trehalose-6-phosphate hydrolyzed per min per mg of protein. The enzyme also very effectively hydrolyzes p-nitrophenyl-alpha-D-glucopyranoside, but it does not recognize trehalose, sucrose, maltose, isomaltose, or maltodextrins. treC was sequenced and found to encode a polypeptide with a calculated molecular weight of 63,781. The amino acid sequence deduced from the DNA sequence shows homology (50% identity) with those of oligo-1,6-glucosidases (sucrase-isomaltases) of Bacillus spp. but not with those of other disaccharide phosphate hydrolases. This report corrects our previous view on the function of the treC gene product as an amylotrehalase, which was based on the analysis of the metabolic products of trehalose metabolism in whole cells.

Hexokinase kinetics in human skeletal muscle after hyperinsulinaemia, hyperglycaemia and hyperepinephrinaemia

The effects of 120 min of euglycaemic hyperinsulinaemia (UH, approximately 5 mM; 40 mU m-2 min-1), UH plus adrenaline infusion (0.05 microgram kg-1 min-1), and hyperglycaemic normoinsulinaemia (26 mM) on hexokinase kinetics in human skeletal muscle were examined. Biopsies were obtained from the quadriceps femoris muscle before and after each clamp. Total muscle hexokinase activity (HKt) (measured on a 2500 g supernatant) at a saturating level of the substrate glucose (1 mM) averaged 13 mmol kg dry wt-1 min-1 in the basal state and did not change significantly under any condition. Soluble hexokinase activity (HKs) (16,000 g supernatant) accounted for approximately 65% of HKt in the basal state, and this percentage was not significantly affected by any condition, suggesting that there was no major transfer of HK between cytosol and mitochondria. The activity of HKt and HKs was inhibited by glucose 1,6-bisphosphate (G-1,6-P2) in a concentration dependent manner in the basal state, and the sensitivity to G1,6-P2 inhibition was not altered by any condition. The activity of HKt and HKs in the presence of a subsaturating level of glucose (0.1 mM) accounted for approximately 70% of the activity at 1 mM glucose, and this percentage was not altered by any condition. These data suggest that under the present conditions alterations in the rates of whole body glucose disposal cannot be associated with alterations in HK distribution between cellular compartments nor its measured kinetics properties.

Aluminum inhibition of hexokinase activity in vitro: a study in biological availability

We have used the HK/G6PDH coupled enzyme assay to determine the biological availability of aluminum in mixed-ligand media of biological interest. The biological availability of aluminum was measured as the inhibition of the activity rate of the assay and was shown to be dependent upon the equilibration state of the aluminum stock solutions (prior to their addition to the assay) and the comparative reaction kinetics of competitive aluminum equilibria in the assays. Aluminum was found to inhibit the assay, however, the inhibition by aluminum was abolished when silicic acid was present in both the aluminum stock solution and the assay medium. The assay is proposed as a model system for investigating the biological availability of aluminum in heterogenous media of biochemical significance.

Inactivation of yeast hexokinase by Cibacron Blue 3G-A: spectral, kinetic and structural investigations

Yeast hexokinase, a homodimer (100 kDa), is an important enzyme in the glycolytic pathway. Although Cibacron Blue 3G-A (Reactive Blue 2) has been previously shown to inactivate yeast hexokinase, no comprehensive study exists concerning the nature of interaction(s) between hexokinase and the blue dye. A comparison of the computer-generated three-dimensional (3D) representations showed considerable overlap of the purine ring of ATP, a nucleotide substrate of hexokinase, with the hydrophobic anthraquinone moiety of the blue dye. The visible spectrum of the blue dye showed a characteristic absorption band centred at 628 nm. The visible difference spectrum of increasing concentration of the dye and the same concentrations of the dye plus a fixed concentration of hexokinase exhibited a maximum, a minimum and an isobestic point at 683, 585, and 655 nm respectively. The visible difference spectrum of the blue dye and the dye in 50% ethylene glycol showed a maximum and a minimum at 660 and 570 nm respectively. The visible difference spectrum of the blue dye in the presence of the dye and hexokinase modified at the active site by pyridoxal phosphate, iodoacetamide and o-phthalaldehyde was devoid of bands characteristic of the hexokinase-blue dye complex. Size-exclusion-chromatographic studies in the absence or presence of guanidinium chloride showed that the enzyme inactivated by the blue dye was co-eluted with the unmodified enzyme. The dialysis residue obtained after extensive dialysis of the gel-filtered complex, against a buffer of high ionic strength, showed an absorption maximum at 655 nm characteristic of the dye-enzyme complex. Inactivation data when analysed by 'Kitz-Wilson'-type kinetics for an irreversible inhibitor, yielded values of 0.05 min-1 and 92 microM for maximum rate of inactivation (k3) and dissociation constant (Kd) for the enzyme-dye complex respectively. Sugar and nucleotide substrates protected hexokinase against inactivation by the blue dye. About 2 mol of the blue dye bound per mol of hexokinase after complete inactivation. The inactivated enzyme could not be re-activated in the presence of 1 M NaCl. These results suggest that Cibacron Blue 3G-A inactivated hexokinase by an irreversible adduct formation at or near the active-site. Spectral and kinetic studies coupled with an analysis of the 3D representations of model compounds corresponding to the substructures of the blue dye suggest that 1-amino-4-(N-phenylamino)anthraquinone-2-sulphonic acid part of the blue dye may represent the minimum structure of Cibacron Blue 3G-A necessary to bind hexokinase.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Inactivation of rabbit red blood cell hexokinase activity promoted in vitro by an oxygen-radical-generating system

Rabbit red blood cell hexokinase (EC 2.7.1.1) has been shown to be inactivated in vitro by incubating intact erythrocytes in the presence of an oxygen-radical-generating system represented by ascorbate and iron. It was interesting to note that among the glycolytic enzymes, only hexokinase was found to be susceptible to the action of oxygen radicals, suggesting that the loss of activity of this enzyme may be one of the first signals of cellular damage in rabbit red blood cells. This statement is supported by the fact that, under the experimental conditions used, we did not observe any significant plasma membrane lipid peroxidation nor intracellular proteolysis. Furthermore, mature erythrocytes are unable to synthesize hexokinase as well as other proteins de novo; therefore, the inactivation of this enzyme, which is both the first and one of the rate-limiting enzymes of the glycolytic pathway, could play an important role in determining metabolic impairment of red blood cells, with possible physiological implications. We also investigated the effect of various radical scavengers and antioxidants (glucose, vitamin E, dithiothreitol, flavonoids) which are able to influence the inactivation of hexokinase activity to different extents. Finally, under the experimental conditions used (90 min of incubation at 37 degrees C), we did not observe any difference in the hemolysis of rabbit red blood cells incubated in the presence or absence of ascorbate and iron (hemolysis was about 1% after 90 min of incubation), suggesting that the system used was able to furnish information about the cellular damage produced by oxygen radicals without provoking cell lysis.

Mechanism of hemolysis of canine erythrocytes induced by L-sorbose

The cause of species difference in the susceptibility of erythrocytes to L-sorbose, and the difference in the hemolytic effect of sorbose on high potassium-containing (HK) and low potassium-containing (LK) canine erythrocytes were examined. L-Sorbose was phosphorylated in canine erythrocytes, but not in human erythrocytes. Furthermore, sorbose-1-phosphate, a metabolite of L-sorbose, strongly inhibited the hexokinase of LK canine erythrocytes, but not that of HK canine erythrocytes. These results strongly indicated that inhibition of hexokinase by sorbose-1-phosphate in LK erythrocytes induced severe glycolytic limitation in these cells, resulting in hemolysis, and that HK erythrocytes are resistant to sorbose-induced hemolysis because these cells have a high hexokinase activity.

[Rational concepts and the study of active molecules against various trypanosomiases]

Several sets of compounds, active against different trypanosomes, Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi are presented, the lethal doses for some of them being less than the micro-molar concentration. These compounds are designed by taking advantage of two metabolic features of these parasites, glucose metabolism and oxidative stress.

Effects of 1,5-anhydro-D-fructose on selected glucose-metabolizing enzymes

It was verified, by n.m.r. and fast-atom-bombardment-m.s. studies, that the C-2 position of 1,5-anhydro-D-fructose, which was prepared by the reaction of immobilized glucose 2-oxidase from Coriolus versicolor (with 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol), is hydrated to the acetal form in water. The effects of 1,5-anhydro-D-fructose on several glucose-metabolizing enzymes were compared with those of 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol. Glucose 1-oxidase from Aspergillus niger was inhibited by 1,5-anhydro-D-fructose (Ki 6.6 mM) more effectively than 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol (Ki 82.5 mM). Yeast and rat brain hexokinases phosphorylated 1,5-anhydro-D-fructose (Km,yeast 2.3 mM: Km,rat 0.79 mM) and 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol (Km,yeast 3.9 mM; Km,rat 0.83 mM). The phosphorylated forms of these compounds inhibited D-glucose phosphorylation by yeast hexokinase (Ki of phosphorylated 1,5-anhydro-D-fructose 0.11 mM; Ki of phosphorylated 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol 0.38 mM) and rat brain hexokinase (Ki of phosphorylated 1,5-anhydro-D-fructose 0.07 mM; Ki of phosphorylated 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol 0.04 mM). Glucokinase phosphorylated neither 1,5-anhydro-D-fructose nor 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol, and the phosphorylation of D-glucose by glucokinase was inhibited by them. Mutarotase was slightly inhibited by 1,5-anhydro-D-fructose, as well as by 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol.

DL-propranolol inhibits lens hexokinase activity and affects lens optics

A clinico-biochemical study indicated that the beta-blocker DL-propranolol may affect human lens epithelial hexokinase (HK) activity. In that study five key enzymes were analysed in 192 freshly excised human lens epithelia obtained during cataract surgery. In a large number of patients the epithelial HK was found to be inactive. Medical records of these patients showed widespread use of the drug DL-propranolol. In vitro experiments demonstrated a direct inhibitory effect of the drug on human lens HK activity. Lens refractive function was monitored during long term bovine lens culture experiments in which the potential cataractogenic agent was added to the culture media. DL-propranolol in a concentration of 0.1 mM reduced HK activity in bovine lens epithelium after 72 hr in organ culture and disrupted lens light focusing ability after 250 hr of incubation. Kinetic studies of HK inhibition suggested a competitive inhibitory effect of the drug on the enzyme.

Furosemide-induced hyperglycaemia: the implication of glycolytic kinases

Hyperglycaemia is a well known adverse effect of therapy with diuretics. In adipose tissue, hydrochlorothiazide and furosemide inhibit the rate of glucose transport. In skeletal muscle, furosemide decreases the rate of glucose phosphorylation and glycolysis. However, whether furosemide has any direct effect on the activities of any of the glycolytic enzymes is not known. In the present study, the effects of furosemide on the activities of the hexokinase, phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase were examined. Pieces of skeletal muscle (quadriceps) and liver were obtained from 10 non-diabetic subjects during surgery. Tissues were homogenized and the activities of the enzymes were measured in the presence or absence of furosemide (0-1.5 mM). Furosemide inhibited the activity of all three key glycolytic enzymes. The concentration of furosemide required to inhibit phosphofructokinase in muscle was lower than that required to inhibit the activity of this enzyme in the liver or to inhibit the activities of hexokinase and pyruvate kinase in both muscle and liver. These direct effects of furosemide may contribute to the decrease in glucose utilisation following therapy with this and similar agents in man.

Characterization of isomers of monoamminechromium-ATP and their use in mapping enzyme active sites

Twelve isomers formed by the reaction of monoamminechromium(III) with ATP have been synthesized. Isomerism in this system results from chirality around the beta-phosphorus of the ATP, the position of the ammonia ligand, the relative orientation of the ammonia and the AMP, and the presence of ring-puckering conformers. By using chromatography on cross-linked cycloheptaamylose, reverse-phase C-18 HPLC, and cation-exchange FPLC, these isomers have been separated and purified. Their structures have been identified by (1) cleavage by periodate, followed by elimination in the presence of diethylenetriamine and subsequent phosphate insertion to give lambda, delta, or meso facial monoamminechromium tripolyphosphate with molar ellipticities of +240, -240, or 0 deg cm2 dmol-1 at 550 nm, respectively, (2) cleavage by nucleotide pyrophosphatase to give meridional or facial monoamminechromium pyrophosphate, (3) spectral data, and (4) rates of interconversion of isomers. All possible isomers are seen except those with ammonia syn to AMP. Since the substitution of ammonia for water in the inner coordination sphere appears to diminish affinity for enzymes when the ammonia is in contact with the protein but not when it faces the solvent, these isomers are useful for mapping of enzyme active sites. Their use as probes of enzyme structure is illustrated by their behavior with yeast hexokinase.

Selective interaction of glycosomal enzymes from Trypanosoma brucei with hydrophobic cyclic hexapeptides

Hydrophobic cyclic hexapeptides have been reported to selectively inhibit glycosomal triosephosphate isomerase from Trypanosoma brucei (Kuntz et al, 1992, Eur. J. Biochem., 207, 441-447). Here it is shown that this inhibition is not due to a specific interaction between the enzyme and soluble hydrophobic cyclic hexapeptides, but that it is the result of a coprecipitation of trypanosome triosephosphate isomerase with cyclic hexapeptides when the solubilities of the latter are exceeded. A study of the interaction of these hexapeptides with other glycosomal enzymes revealed that several of them, such as phosphoglycerate kinase and hexokinase, also coprecipitated with these peptides, whereas most of the homologous enzymes from other organisms did not coprecipitate, nor were they inactivated.

Trehalose-6-phosphate, a new regulator of yeast glycolysis that inhibits hexokinases

Trehalose-6-phosphate (P) competitively inhibited the hexokinases from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The strongest inhibition was observed upon hexokinase II, with a Ki of 40 microM, while in the case of hexokinase I the Ki was 200 microM. Glucokinase was not inhibited by trehalose-6-P up to 5 mM. This inhibition appears to have physiological significance, since the intracellular levels of trehalose-6-P were about 0.2 mM. Hexokinases from other organisms were also inhibited, while glucokinases were unaffected. The hexokinase from the yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica, was particularly sensitive to the inhibition by trehalose-6-P: when assayed with 2 mM fructose an apparent Ki of 5 microM was calculated. Two S. cerevisiae mutants with abnormal levels of trehalose-6-P exhibited defects in glucose metabolism. It is concluded that trehalose-6-P plays an important role in the regulation of the first steps of yeast glycolysis, mainly through the inhibition of hexokinase II.

Inactivation of yeast hexokinase by Cibacron brilliant red 3B-A

Procion or Cibacron blue dyes, containing polynuclear aromatic rings and mono- and dichlorotriazine nuclei, immobilized on dextran matrices, have been used for over a decade to purify diverse groups of enzymes by dye-ligand chromatography. Comparatively less attention has been paid to investigating the nature of molecular interactions between similarly constituted red dyes and various enzymes so as to ascertain their potential and thus justify their use in the purification of enzymes by dye-ligand chromatography. We investigated and found that Cibacron brilliant red 3B-A, a monochlorotriazine dye, inhibited phosphotransferase activity of yeast hexokinase. The dissociation constant, KD, and the rate of dye-enzyme complex formation, k3, were 120 microM and 0.1 min-1, respectively. The enzyme was protected from inactivation by sugar and nucleotide substrates. About 2 mol of the dye bound per mole of the enzyme. The chromophore of the dye showed absorption at 524 nm. The visible difference spectrum of increasing concentration of the dye and same concentrations of the dye plus a fixed concentration of hexokinase exhibited a maximum, a minimum, and an isosbestic point at 569, 501, and 512 nm, respectively. The difference spectrum of the dye and dye in 60% ethylene glycol showed a maximum and a minimum at 556 and 495 nm, respectively. The dye showed no visible difference spectrum in the presence of hexokinase modified at the active site by iodoacetamide, pyridoxal phosphate, and o-phthalaldehyde. Hexokinase modified by the dye coeluted with the unmodified enzyme during size-exclusion chromatography in the absence or presence of guanidinium hydrochloride. These results suggest that the dye interacts with the hydrophobic environment of the active site of the enzyme. Analysis of the kinetics of inhibition of hexokinase by model compounds and comparison of their computer-assisted three-dimensional representations with that of Cibacron brilliant red 3B-A suggest that 1-amino-8-naphthol-3,6-disulfonic acid may represent the minimum structure for the dye to bind.

[The cooperative effect of hydrocortisone, adrenaline, and high density lipoproteins in regulating the activity of multiple forms of liver hexokinase]

High density lipoproteins (HDL) were shown to modulate the effect of hydrocortisone and adrenaline on activity of hexokinase in surviving liver tissue slices. The hormones inhibited the enzymatic activity while in presence of HDL the hormones exhibited an opposite effect. The phenomenon observed was termed a "cooperative effect"; it could not be reproduced by any single components of the system studied. Mechanism of the effect involved induction of all the multiple hexokinase forms which was abolished by actinomycin D. A specific function could be ascribed only to HDL3; HDL2, low and very low density lipoproteins did not exhibit any effects. The cooperative effect of HDL and of the adaptive hormones was also inhibited in the surviving liver tissue slices by vinblastine, gordox and methylamine thus demonstrating the sophisticated nature of the mechanism.

Exploring the hexokinase glucose binding site through correlation analysis and molecular modeling of glucosamine inhibitors

A series of N-substituted glucosamines has been designed, synthesized, and tested as inhibitors of yeast hexokinase. All derivatives exhibited competitive inhibition kinetics with respect to glucose. Quantitative structure-activity relationships were derived from the resulting inhibition data. The most significant equation demonstrated the existence of highly specific steric effects for the seven meta-substituted benzoylglucosamines included in the relationship. Molecular modeling of potential complexes between the inhibitors and the hexokinase substrate binding site strongly suggests that the steric effects arise from potential contacts with two amino acid residues lying in the region occupied by the amide substituents.