The binding of glucose and nucleotides to hexokinase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Fluorescence-based glucose sensors

There is an urgent need to develop technology for continuous in vivo glucose monitoring in subjects with diabetes mellitus. Problems with existing devices based on electrochemistry have encouraged alternative approaches to glucose sensing in recent years, and those based on fluorescence intensity and lifetime have special advantages, including sensitivity and the potential for non-invasive measurement when near-infrared light is used. Several receptors have been employed to detect glucose in fluorescence sensors, and these include the lectin concanavalin A (Con A), enzymes such as glucose oxidase, glucose dehydrogenase and hexokinase/glucokinase, bacterial glucose-binding protein, and boronic acid derivatives (which bind the diols of sugars). Techniques include measuring changes in fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between a fluorescent donor and an acceptor either within a protein which undergoes glucose-induced changes in conformation or because of competitive displacement; measurement of glucose-induced changes in intrinsic fluorescence of enzymes (e.g. due to tryptophan residues in hexokinase) or extrinsic fluorophores (e.g. using environmentally sensitive fluorophores to signal protein conformation). Non-invasive glucose monitoring can be accomplished by measurement of cell autofluorescence due to NAD(P)H, and fluorescent markers of mitochondrial metabolism can signal changes in extracellular glucose concentration. Here we review the principles of operation, context and current status of the various approaches to fluorescence-based glucose sensing.

Glucose sensing based on the intrinsic fluorescence of sol-gel immobilized yeast hexokinase

In this study, we investigated measurements of the intrinsic fluorescence of yeast hexokinase as an assay for glucose and immobilization of the enzyme in a silica sol-gel matrix as a potential in vivo glucose sensor for use in patients with diabetes. The intrinsic fluorescence of hexokinase in solution (excitation=295 nm, emission=330 nm) decreased by 23% at a saturating glucose concentration of 1 mM (Kd=0.3 mM), but serum abolished the glucose-related fluorescence response. When entrapped in tetramethylorthosilicate-derived sol gel, hexokinase retained activity, with a 25% maximal glucose-related decrease in intrinsic fluorescence, and the saturation point was increased to 50 mM glucose (Kd=12.5 mM). The glucose response range was increased further (to 120 mM, Kd=57 mM) by a covering membrane of poly(2-hydroxyethyl) methacrylate. Unlike free enzyme, the fluorescence responses to glucose with sol-gel immobilized hexokinase, with or without covering membrane, were similar for buffer and serum. We conclude that fluorescence monitoring of sol-gel entrapped yeast hexokinase is a suitable system for development as an in vivo glucose biosensor.

Glucose biosensors as models for the development of advanced protein-based biosensors

Glucose sensing is used as a model to explore the advantages and problems deriving from the use of either enzymes or sugar binding proteins to develop stable fluorescence biosensors. We report on a novel approach to address the problem of substrate consumption by sensors based on enzymes, namely the utilization of apo-enzymes as non-active forms of the protein which are still able to bind the substrate/ligand. We also review studies in which derivatization of a naturally thermostable sugar-binding protein with a fluorescent probe allows quantitative monitoring of glucose binding even after immobilization on a solid support.

Binding equilibrium isotope effects for glucose at the catalytic domain of human brain hexokinase

We have utilized tritium isotope effects to probe the in vitro binding equilibrium between glucose and human brain hexokinase (E.C.2.7.1.1). Replacing a backbone hydrogen atom in glucose with tritium can significantly increase or decrease the equilibrium association constant. Specifically, the equilibrium tritium isotope effects are 1.027 +/- 0.002, 0.927 +/- 0.0003, 1.027 +/- 0.004, 1.051 +/- 0.001, 0.988 +/- 0.001, and 1.065 +/- 0.003 for [1-t]-, [2-t]-, [3-t]-, [4-t]-, [5-t]-, and [6,6-t(2)]glucose, respectively. We have shown that the existence of prebinding equilibrium isotope effects can contribute to binding isotope effect studies but that this effect is insignificant for glucose binding to hexokinase. The binding isotope effects are interpreted in the context of structural studies of hexokinase-glucose complexes. Ab initio calculations on 2-propanol with or without a hydrogen bonding partner, in steric collision with formaldehyde or methane, and on ethanol, cyclohexanol and 1-hydroxymethyl-tetrahydropyran are presented to clarify the magnitude of isotope effects possible in such interactions and the accompanying changes in free energy. Position-specific binding isotope effects provide direct evidence of the partial deprotonation and activation of O6 by Asp657, of other hydrogen bonding interactions with ionic residues, and of the steric compression of CH2 by the backbone carbonyl of Ser603.

A novel fluorescence competitive assay for glucose determinations by using a thermostable glucokinase from the thermophilic microorganism Bacillus stearothermophilus

We describe the use of a thermostable glucokinase in a novel competitive fluorescence assay for glucose. Glucokinase from Bacillus stearothermophilus (BSGK) was found to retain enzymatic activity in solution for over 20 days. The single cysteine residue in BSGK, which is near the active site, was labeled with a fluorescent probe, 2-(4-iodoacetamidoanilino)naphthalene-6-sulfonic acid. The ANS-labeled BSGK displayed a modest 25% decrease in the emission intensity upon binding glucose but no change in lifetime. To obtain a larger spectral change we developed a competitive assay for glucose using the intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence from BSGK and a resonance energy transfer (RET) acceptor-labeled sugar. The sugar-labeled acceptor quenched the BSGK tryptophan emission, and the quenching was reversed upon addition of glucose. The use of RET as the sensing mechanism can be easily extended to longer wavelengths for a more practical glucose sensor.

Binding of non-catalytic ATP to human hexokinase I highlights the structural components for enzyme-membrane association control

BACKGROUND

Hexokinase I sets the pace of glycolysis in the brain, catalyzing the ATP-dependent phosphorylation of glucose. The catalytic properties of hexokinase I are dependent on product inhibition as well as on the action of phosphate. In vivo, a large fraction of hexokinase I is bound to the mitochondrial outer membrane, where the enzyme adopts a tetrameric assembly. The mitochondrion-bound hexokinase I is believed to optimize the ATP/ADP exchange between glucose phosphorylation and the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation reactions.

RESULTS

The crystal structure of human hexokinase I has been determined at 2.25 A resolution. The overall structure of the enzyme is in keeping with the closed conformation previously observed in yeast hexokinase. One molecule of the ATP analogue AMP-PNP is bound to each N-terminal domain of the dimeric enzyme in a surface cleft, showing specific interactions with the nucleotide, and localized positive electrostatic potential. The molecular symmetry brings the two bound AMP-PNP molecules, at the centre of two extended surface regions, to a common side of the dimeric hexokinase I molecule.

CONCLUSIONS

The binding of AMP-PNP to a protein site separated from the catalytic centre of human hexokinase I can be related to the role played by some nucleotides in dissociating the enzyme from the mitochondrial membrane, and helps in defining the molecular regions of hexokinase I that are expected to be in contact with the mitochondrion. The structural information presented here is in keeping with monoclonal antibody mapping of the free and mitochondrion-bound forms of the enzyme, and with sequence analysis of hexokinases that differ in their mitochondria binding properties.

Glucose metabolism in Neurospora is altered by heat shock and by disruption of HSP30

We compared the metabolism of [1-13C]glucose by wild type cells of Neurospora crassa at normal growth temperature and at heat shock temperatures, using nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of cell extracts. High temperature led to increased incorporation of 13C into trehalose, relative to all other metabolites, and there was undetectable synthesis of glycerol, which was a prominent metabolite of glucose at normal temperature (30 degrees C). Heat shock strongly reduced formation of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, approximately 10-fold, and mannitol synthesis was severely depressed at 46 degrees C, but only moderately reduced at 45 degrees C. A mutant strain of N. crassa that lacks the small alpha-crystallin-related heat shock protein, Hsp30, shows poor survival during heat shock on a nutrient medium with restricted glucose. An analysis of glucose metabolism of this strain showed that, unlike the wild type strain, Hsp30-deficient cells may accumulate unphosphorylated glucose at high temperature. This suggestion that glucose-phosphorylating hexokinase activity might be depressed in mutant cells led us to compare hexokinase activity in the two strains at high temperature. Hexokinase was reduced more than 35% in the mutant cell extracts, relative to wild type extracts. alpha-Crystallin and an Hsp30-enriched preparation protected purified hexokinase from thermal inactivation in vitro, supporting the proposal that Hsp30 may directly stabilize hexokinase in vivo during heat shock.

Carbon source-dependent phosphorylation of hexokinase PII and its role in the glucose-signaling response in yeast

The HXK2 gene is required for a variety of regulatory effects leading to an adaptation for fermentative metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, the molecular basis of the specific role of Hxk2p in these effects is still unclear. One important feature in order to understand the physiological function of hexokinase PH is that it is a phosphoprotein, since protein phosphorylation is essential in most metabolic signal transductions in eukaryotic cells. Here we show that Hxk2p exists in vivo in a dimeric-monomeric equilibrium which is affected by phosphorylation. Only the monomeric form appears phosphorylated, whereas the dimer does not. The reversible phosphorylation of Hxk2p is carbon source dependent, being more extensive on poor carbon sources such as galactose, raffinose, and ethanol. In vivo dephosphorylation of Hxk2p is promoted after addition of glucose. This effect is absent in glucose repression mutants cat80/grr1, hex2/reg1, and cid1/glc7. Treatment of a glucose crude extract from cid1-226 (glc7-T152K) mutant cells with lambda-phosphatase drastically reduces the presence of phosphoprotein, suggesting that CID1/GLC7 phosphatase together with its regulatory HEX2/REG1 subunit are involved in the dephosphorylation of the Hxk2p monomer. An HXK2 mutation encoding a serine-to-alanine change at position 15 [HXK2 (S15A)] was to clarify the in vivo function of the phosphorylation of hexokinase PII. In this mutant, where the Hxk2 protein is unable to undergo phosphorylation, the cells could not provide glucose repression of invertase. Glucose induction of HXT gene expression is also affected in cells expressing the mutated enzyme. Although we cannot rule out a defect in the metabolic state of the cell as the origin of these phenomena, our results suggest that the phosphorylation of hexokinase is essential in vivo for glucose signal transduction.

Synergistic binding of glucose and aluminium ATP to hexokinase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The binding of glucose, AlATP and AlADP to the monomeric and dimeric forms of the native yeast hexokinase PII isoenzyme and to the proteolytically modified SII monomeric form was monitored at pH 6.7 by the concomitant quenching of intrinsic protein fluorescence. No fluorescence changes were observed when free enzyme was mixed with AlATP at concentrations up to 7500 microM. In the presence of saturating concentrations of glucose, the maximal quenching of fluorescence induced by AlATP was between 1.5 and 3.5% depending on species, and the average value of [L]0.5, the concentration of ligand at half-saturation, over all monomeric species was 0.9 +/- 0.4 microM. The presence of saturating concentrations of AlATP diminished [L]0.5 for glucose binding by between 260- and 670-fold for hexokinase PII and SII monomers, respectively (dependent on the ionic strength), and by almost 4000-fold for PII dimer. The data demonstrate extremely strong synergistic interactions in the binding of glucose and AlATP to yeast hexokinase, arising as a consequence of conformational changes in the free enzyme induced by glucose and in enzyme-glucose complex induced by AlATP. The synergistic interactions of glucose and AlATP are related to their kinetic synergism and to the ability of AlATP to act as a powerful inhibitor of the hexokinase reaction.