Linkage between reactivity of sulfhydryl groups and subunit interactions in aspartate transcarbamoylase

Propagation of allosteric changes through the catalytic-regulatory interface of Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamylase

Each of two previously isolated strains of Escherichia coli containing a single nonsense codon within the pyrB gene was suppressed with four different nonsense suppressors. The kinetic analysis using crude extracts of these nonsense-suppressed strains indicated that the mutant aspartate transcarbamylases had altered cooperativity and affinity for aspartate as judged by the substrate concentration at half of the maximal velocity. Both pyrB genes were cloned and then sequenced. In both cases, a single base change was identified which converted a glutamine GAC codon into a TAC nonsense codon. Both mutations occurred in the catalytic chain of aspartate transcarbamylase and were identified at positions 108 and 246. The glutamine at position 108 in the wild-type structure is located at the interface between the catalytic and regulatory chains and is involved in a number of interactions with backbone and side chains of the regulatory chain. The glutamine at position 246 in the wild-type structure is located in the 240s loop of the enzyme. Two additional mutant versions of aspartate transcarbamylase were created by site-directed mutagenesis to further investigate the 108-position in the structure, a glutamine to tyrosine substitution at position 108 of the catalytic chain, and an asparagine to glycine change at position 113 of the regulatory chain, a residue which interacts directly with glutamine-108 in the wild-type structure. Both mutant enzymes have reduced affinity for aspartate. However, the Tyr-108 mutant enzyme exhibits a reduced Hill coefficient while the Gly-113 enzyme exhibits an increased Hill coefficient. The response to the allosteric effectors ATP and CTP is also changed for both the mutant enzymes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Hybridization as a technique for studying interchain interactions in the catalytic trimers of aspartate transcarbamoylase

Since subunit interactions in regulatory enzymes mediate the ligand-promoted conformational changes responsible for their allosteric properties, it is necessary to have techniques for determining the effects of ligands and mutational alterations on the strength of the interchain interactions. In aspartate transcarbamoylase from Escherichia coli, the multiple interchain interactions are so linked that it is difficult to study them separately. Therefore, we have focused on the nonallosteric catalytic trimers isolated from the holoenzyme and have used the rate of hybrid formation between native and succinylated protein as a measure of the dissociation of the trimers into single polypeptide chains. Although catalytic trimers exhibit no evident dissociation in sedimentation studies at 10(-8) M, incubation of mixtures of native and succinylated trimers for long periods of time (days) yielded hybrids which are readily detected by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This sensitive technique was used to demonstrate that the substrate, carbamoylphosphate, and the bisubstrate analog, N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate, cause a marked strengthening of the interchain interactions, whereas the inhibitor, sodium pyrophosphate, at concentrations as low as 10 mM, promotes dissociation of the trimers. This weakening of the interchain interactions by pyrophosphate facilitated the isolation and purification of functionally competent hybrid trimers by a technique which was much more convenient and provided higher yields than previous, more drastic methods which employed urea or guanidine hydrochloride to cause dissociation of the trimers. The hybridization technique was useful in studying the effects of mutational alterations on the strength of the interchain interactions and the ability of active and inactive mutants to bind pyrophosphate.

Coupling between fatty acid binding and sulfhydryl oxidation in bovine serum albumin

Albumin with and without a free sulfhydryl group (mercapt-albumin and nonmercapt-albumin) has low and high amounts of fatty acids, respectively. It was found that this difference was brought about by the following two mechanisms: (a) the binding of fatty acids increases the rate of oxidation of the sulfhydryl group, (b) the oxidation of the sulfhydryl group of the protein enhances the binding of fatty acids. The incubation of the protein with fatty acids enhanced reversibly the reaction rate of the free sulfhydryl group with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid). This effect of fatty acids depends on the kind of fatty acid added. Among saturated long-chain fatty acids tested, the shortest fatty acid, lauric (dodecanoic) acid, had the strongest effect. Oleic (cis-9-octadecenoic) acid, which has a long chain but also one cis-double bond, however, was as effective as lauric acid in enhancing the reactivity of the sulfhydryl group on the protein. Analyses with palmityl-Sepharose and equilibrium partitioning of palmitic acid between heptane and aqueous protein solutions have shown that nonmercapt-albumin has higher affinity to the fatty acid than mercapt-albumin. These results imply that the binding of fatty acids and the oxidation of sulfhydryl groups of the protein are intimately coupled.