Escherichia coli Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase

Regulation of Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase from Crassula argentea: effect of incubation with ligands and dilution on oligomeric state, activity, and allosteric properties

The relationship between the aggregation state and allosteric properties of purified phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase from Crassula argentea was examined using both kinetic and physical techniques. Analysis by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that dilution induced a dissociation of the active tetramer to a less active dimer. Kinetic assays showed that inhibition of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase by 5 mM malate measured at a saturating phosphoenolpyruvate concentration rose to nearly 80% with increasing preassay dilution while the activity in the absence of malate remained constant. Kinetic bursts were observed when enzyme-initiated assays were measured at a subsaturating phosphoenolpyruvate concentration. At saturating phosphoenolpyruvate concentrations, however, increasing lags developed in response to increasing the preassay dilution of the enzyme. Further, dynamic laser-light scattering measurements showed that preincubation of the dilute enzyme with phosphoenolpyruvate stabilized the tetramer while the presence of malate induced dimer formation. These observations confirm and extend earlier work with the extracted active malate insensitive night and less active, malate-sensitive day forms of the enzyme (Wu and Wedding [1985] Plant Physiol. 77, 667-675). Activity measured at subsaturating phosphoenolpyruvate concentrations dropped with increasing preassay dilution of enzyme, while activation by 3.2 mM glucose 6-phosphate, assayed at a low phosphoenolpyruvate concentration (0.044 mM), increased with dilution to nearly 400%. In this case activation results from a decrease in the control rate as the activity measured in the presence of glucose 6-phosphate was nearly constant, similar in effect to saturating phosphoenolpyruvate in the assay. Glucose 6-phosphate induced tetramer formation of the dilute enzyme as measured by light-scattering similar to the effects induced by PEP. In addition, when diluted (dimeric) PEPC was preincubated with PEP or glucose 6-phosphate the enzyme became less sensitive to malate inhibition, while the active-site directed ligand 2-phosphoglycolate had no effect on malate inhibition. These results indicate that both the substrate PEP and the activator glucose 6-phosphate stabilize the active tetramer via binding and interaction at an activator site separate from the active site.

Cellular concentrations of enzymes and their substrates

The activity of crude and pure enzyme preparations as well as the molecular weight of these enzymes were obtained from the literature for several organisms. From these data enzyme concentrations were calculated and compared to the concentration(s) of their substrates in the same organism. The data are expressed as molar ratios of metabolite concentration to enzyme site concentration. Of the 140 ratios calculated, 88% were one or greater, indicating that in general substrates exceed their cognate enzyme concentrations. Of the 17 cases where enzyme exceeds metabolite concentration, 16 were in glycolysis. The data in general justify the use of enzyme kinetic mechanisms determined in vitro in the construction of dynamic models which simulate in vivo metabolism.

Properties of an Escherichia coli mutant deficient in phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase catalytic activity

A mutant Escherichia coli (Ppcc-) which was unable to grow on glucose as a sole carbon source was isolated. This mutant had very low levels of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity (approximately 5% of the wild type). Goat immunoglobulin G prepared against wild-type phosphoenolypyruvate carboxylase cross-reacted with the Ppcc- enzyme. The amount of enzyme protein in the mutant cells was similar to that found in wild-type cells, but it had greatly diminished specific activity. The catalytically less active mutant enzyme retained the ability to interact with fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, but did not exhibit stabilization of the tetrameric form by aspartate. The pI of the mutant protein was lower (4.9) than that of the wild-type protein (5.1). After electrophoresis and immunoblotting of the partially purified protein, several immunostaining bands were seen in addition to the main enzyme band. A novel method for showing that these bands represented proteolytic fragments of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase was developed.

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase of Escherichia coli. Studies on multiple conformational states elicited by allosteric effectors with a fluorescent probe, 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate

Conformational change of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (orthophosphate: oxaloacetate carboxy-lyase (phosphorylating), EC 4.1.1.31) induced by allosteric effectors was investigated using a hydrophobic probe, 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate (ANS). Kinetic experiments suggested that ANS binds with the enzyme at the sites which are not involved in the catalytic and regulatory functions, though it partially inhibits the enzyme activity with half-saturation concentration (S0.5) of 38.5 muM. Binding experiments showed that a maximum of 2 mol of ANS are able to bind with 1 mol of the enzyme subunit presumably with an equal dissociation constant to each other (34.5 muM). Flourescence emission of ANS was markedly increased by binding with the enzyme. L-Aspartate, the allosteric inhibitor, and CoASAc and fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (Fru-1,6-P2) the allosteric activators, produced various degrees of change in fluorescence, when added singly or in combinations. The changes were shown to be attributable to the allosteric interactions between the enzyme and effectors from some criteria such as structural specificity, half-saturation concentrations, and heterotropic-homotropic interactions of the ligands. It was concluded from these analyses that the enzyme can be in at least four conformational states which are distinct from each other. Especially noteworthy is the finding that the enzyme, upon simultaneous binding of CoASAc and Fru-1,6-P2, takes a new conformation which is enterely different from those induced by sole binding of each effector. In addition, the heterotropic interaction between the activator and the inhibitor was observed through conformational change by the ANS method, as observed in the kinetic studies.