The hybridization of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenases from rabbit muscle and yeast. Kinetics and thermodynamics of the reaction and isolation of the hybrid

Myopia

Myopia, also known as short-sightedness or near-sightedness, is a very common condition that typically starts in childhood. Severe forms of myopia (pathologic myopia) are associated with a risk of other associated ophthalmic problems. This disorder affects all populations and is reaching epidemic proportions in East Asia, although there are differences in prevalence between countries. Myopia is caused by both environmental and genetic risk factors. A range of myopia management and control strategies are available that can treat this condition, but it is clear that understanding the factors involved in delaying myopia onset and slowing its progression will be key to reducing the rapid rise in its global prevalence. To achieve this goal, improved data collection using wearable technology, in combination with collection and assessment of data on demographic, genetic and environmental risk factors and with artificial intelligence are needed. Improved public health strategies focusing on early detection or prevention combined with additional effective therapeutic interventions to limit myopia progression are also needed.

Recombinant human sperm-specific glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDHS) is expressed at high yield as an active homotetramer in baculovirus-infected insect cells

The sperm-specific glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDHS) isoform is a promising contraceptive target because it is specific to male germ cells, essential for sperm motility and male fertility, and well suited to pharmacological inhibition. However, GAPDHS is difficult to isolate from native sources and recombinant expression frequently results in high production of insoluble enzyme. We chose to use the Bac-to-Bac baculovirus-insect cell system to express a His-tagged form of human GAPDHS (Hu his-GAPDHS) lacking the proline-rich N-terminal sequence. This recombinant Hu his-GAPDHS was successfully produced in Spodoptera frugiperda 9 (Sf9) cells by infection with recombinant virus as a soluble, enzymatically active form in high yield, >35 mg/L culture. Biochemical characterization of the purified enzyme by mass spectrometry and size exclusion chromatography confirmed the presence of the tetrameric form. Further characterization by peptide ion matching mass spectrometry and Edman sequencing showed that unlike the mixed tetramer forms produced in bacterial expression systems, human his-GAPDHS expressed in baculovirus-infected insect cells is homotetrameric. The ability to express and purify active human GAPDHS as homotetramers in high amounts will greatly aid in drug discovery efforts targeting this enzyme for discovery of novel contraceptives and three compounds were identified as inhibitors of Hu his-GAPDHS from a pilot screen of 1120 FDA-approved compounds.

Structure of insoluble rat sperm glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) via heterotetramer formation with Escherichia coli GAPDH reveals target for contraceptive design

Sperm glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase has been shown to be a successful target for a non-hormonal contraceptive approach, but the agents tested to date have had unacceptable side effects. Obtaining the structure of the sperm-specific isoform to allow rational inhibitor design has therefore been a goal for a number of years but has proved intractable because of the insoluble nature of both native and recombinant protein. We have obtained soluble recombinant sperm glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase as a heterotetramer with the Escherichia coli glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in a ratio of 1:3 and have solved the structure of the heterotetramer which we believe represents a novel strategy for structure determination of an insoluble protein. A structure was also obtained where glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate binds in the P(s) pocket in the active site of the sperm enzyme subunit in the presence of NAD. Modeling and comparison of the structures of human somatic and sperm-specific glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase revealed few differences at the active site and hence rebut the long presumed structural specificity of 3-chlorolactaldehyde for the sperm isoform. The contraceptive activity of alpha-chlorohydrin and its apparent specificity for the sperm isoform in vivo are likely to be due to differences in metabolism to 3-chlorolactaldehyde in spermatozoa and somatic cells. However, further detailed analysis of the sperm glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase structure revealed sites in the enzyme that do show significant difference compared with published somatic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase structures that could be exploited by structure-based drug design to identify leads for novel male contraceptives.

The lifetime of insulin hexamers

The kinetic stability of insulin hexamers containing two metal ions was investigated by means of hybridization experiments. Insulin was covalently labeled at the N(epsilon)-amino group of Lys(B29) by a fluorescence donor and acceptor group, respectively. The labels neither affect the tertiary structure nor interfere with self-association. Equimolar solutions of pure donor and acceptor insulin hexamers were mixed, and the hybridization was monitored by fluorescence resonance energy transfer. With the total insulin concentration remaining constant and the association/dissociation equilibria unperturbed, the subunit interchange between hexamers is an entropy-driven relaxation process that ends at statistical distribution of the labels over 16 types of hexamers differing by their composition. The analytical description of the interchange kinetics on the basis of a plausible model has yielded the first experimental values for the lifetime of the hexamers. The lifetime is reciprocal to the product of the concentration of the exchanged species and the interchange rate constant: tau = 1/(c. k). Measured for different concentrations, temperatures, metal ions, and ligand-dependent conformational states, the lifetime was found to cover a range from minutes for T(6) to days for R(6) hexamers. The approach can be used under an unlimited variety of conditions. The information it provides is of obvious relevance for the handling, storage, and pharmacokinetic properties of insulin preparations.

Reconstitution of the isolated beta2-subunit of tryptophan synthase from Escherichia coli after dissociation induced by high hydrostatic pressure. Equilibrium and kinetic studies

The isolated beta2-subunit of Escherichia coli tryptophan synthase can be reversibly dissociated into enzymically inactive monomers under high hydrostatic pressure. Deactivation at 1.5 kbar which shows a half-time of 11 min (rate constant k=10 (-3) s (-1) is paralleled by dissociation with a small lag phase of about 5 min. Pressure release leads to 95 +/- 5% recovery of specific activity and complete restoration of the hydrodynamic and spectral properties which specify the native dimer. Over the concentration range 1-100 micrograms/ml (0.02-2.3 micrograms M) the kinetics of reactivation can be fitted by one apparent first-order rate constant (k=6.5 +/- 0.6 X 10 (-4) s (-1), half-time = 17.5 min). The reconstitution of catalytic activity is paralleled by alterations in tryptophan fluorescence at 327 nm, thus presenting direct evidence for conformational changes in the direct vicinity of the active center (k1 = 1.9 X 10 (-3) s(-1), k2 = 6.5 +/- 0.6 X 10(-4) s (-1) ). On the other hand, a definite mechanism of reactivation requires the association of the refolding monomers to be included. The kinetics of dimerization have been followed via hybridization between native and chemically modified beta-chains, yielding an apparent first-order rate constant of 6.3 +/- 0.6 X 10 (-4) s (-1). As a consequence, we propose a sequential uni-uni-bimolecular mechanism, which is characterized by a minimum of two conformational changes in substantially structured monomers followed by a fast dimerization reaction to yield the active beta2-subunit.

Kinetic behaviour and oligomeric state of 3-phosphoglyceroyl-D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

The specific activity of pig muscle D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was found to be constant in the reverse reaction, with NADH and 1,3-diphosphoglycerate as substrates, over the enzyme concentration range 10(-8) to 10(-4) M. The molecular weight of the covalent intermediate of the enzyme, 3-phosphoglyceroyl-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, as measured by sedimentation techniques, proved constant (145 000 +/- 6 000) between 3 x 10(-5) M enzyme concentration. Likewise, no change in the apparent molecular weight was observed by gel-chromatography even at 2 x 10(-8) M enzyme concentration. The data indicate that the enzyme functions in its tetrameric form.

Subunit interactions in glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenases. Their involvement in nucleotide binding and cooperativity

1. The hybridization of rabbit muscle and yeast glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate:NAD+ oxidoreductase (phosphorylating), EC 1.2.1.12) was used to study the involvement of subunit interactions in NAD+ and NADH binding by these enzymes. 2. In the presence of 1 mM NAD+ or NADH no hybrid formation was observed with our preparations of the two enzymes. 3. The inhibition by NADH of the hybrid formation is shown to be a consequence of an unfavourable equilibrium of the hybridization process in the presence of NADH. 4. The inhibition by NAD+ of the hybrid formation is shown to be a consequence of both a shift in the equilibrium, as in the case of NADH, and a decrease in the rate of the dissociation of the enzymes. 5. The dimer of the yeast enzyme binds NAD+ or NADH with equal affinity irrespective of whether it is combined with another yeast dimer in the yeast tetramer or with a rabbit muscle dimer in the hybrid. 6. The binding of NAD+ and NADH to the dimer of the rabbit muscle enzyme is stronger in the rabbit muscle tetramer than in the hybrid; this explains the shift in the equilibrium of the hybridization process caused by these nucleotides. 7. Alkylation of the rabbit muscle enzyme with iodoacetate does not influence the hydridization process in the absence of nucleotides. 8. After alkylation of the rabbit muscle enzyme NADH cannot cause a large shift in the equilibrium of the hybridization process. 9. In accordance with this it was found that the binding of NADH (and NAD+) to the rabbit muscle enzyme is weakened by alkylation, whereas the binding of NADH to the alkylated rabbit muscle subunits is not affected strongly by the hydridization. 10. An attempt is made to combine the effects of nucleotides on the hybridization properties of the yeast enzyme and the alkylated or unalkylated rabbit muscle enzymes with the binding properties of all tetrameric species involved in the hybridization processes in a thermodynamic description of nucleotide binding and subunit interactions.

Description of the quaternary structure of tetrameric proteins. Forms that show either right-handed or left-handed symmetry at the subunit level

A method is described for comparing the shapes of tetrameric proteins whose three-dimensional structure is known. The centres of mass of single subunits are calculated as Cartesian co-ordinates with respect to their three dyad axes. The axes are allocated on the basis of the extent of the intersubunit contacts that they relate. This results in the division of proteins into two classes called right-handed and left-handed. A second division, which also contains right-handed and left-handed forms, is made according to the distances between the centres of mass of the subunits measured across the two axes with the most extensive contacts. Two other parameters have been calculated from the coordinates; they are named "aplanarity" and "twist". The eight tetramers so far investigated are discussed. One, lactate dehydrogenase, cannot be treated in this way. Among the others, right-handed structures (according to both definitions) are found to be commoner; most have low twist; all are of fairly high aplanarity except phosphoglycerate mutase. Prealbumin is exceptional, being left-handed in both ways and of high twist; it has a figure-of-eight structure with the centres of mass lying in one plane. The changes in the quaternary structure of haemoglobin are also presented by using this approach; on deoxygenation the aplanarity and the twist decrease.

The development of SS'-polymethylenebis(methanethiosulphonates) as reversible cross-linking reagents for thiol groups and their use to form stable catalytically active cross-linked dimers within glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase

The synthesis of a series of SS'-polymethylenebis(methanethiosulphonates) including the pentane, hexane, octane, decane and dodecane derivatives is described. These derivatives were synthesized by condensation between dibromoalkanes and potassium methanethiosulphonate in refluxing methanol and this seems an especially versatile reaction for the synthesis of asymmetric thiosulphonate derivatives. The synthesis of SS'-[1,8-3H4]-octamethylenebis(methanethiosulphonate) was also perfomed. Cross-linking was demonstrated in the four enzymes lactate dehydrogenase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase. For all four enzymes cross-linking was efficiently reversed by reducing conditions in denaturing solvents. The reaction with glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase was unique in that only the cross-linked dimer was produced in significant amounts (greater than 90% of total products as dimer). This reaction was followed in detail with radioactive cross-linking reagent. Inhibition of enzyme activity was extremely fast and showed an asymmetric distribution of enzyme activity on subunits. Thus complete modification of only one subunit resulted in up to 75% inhibition of enzyme activity. Reaction of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase with 1.25 mol of SS'-octamethylenebis(methanethiosulphonate) per mol of enzyme subunit produced two species of protein. The first species was obtained in 20% yield and was only partially re-activated on mild reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol. The second species was isolated in 66% yield and was completely re-activated on mild reduction. Before reduction there was 4 mol of inhibitor per tetramer for the latter species, and more than 95% of the enzyme was present as a dimer on non-reducing electrophoresis. After mild reduction 2 mol of inhibitor was still bound per tetramer, the enzyme was now catalytically active and the dimer was still the major structure on non-reducing electrophoresis. Thus mild reduction of SS'-octamethylenebis(methanethiosulphonate-treated glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase enabled the production of active enzyme in which there is a stable cross-link across one of the molecular axes of the tetrameric enzyme. This cross-link was only reversed if reduction was performed when the enzyme was denatured. The molecular weight of cross-linked and re-activated cross-linked glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase was established as 144000 (tetramer) by sucrose-density-gradient centrifugation. These observations are interpreted in terms of the molecular structure of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase.

The reaction of rabbit muscle creatine kinase with some derivatives of iodoacetamide

The dimeric enzyme creatine kinase from rabbit muscle was treated with three derivatives of iodoacetamide that are capable of introducing fluorescent groups into the enzyme. All the three reagents (4-iodoacetamidosalicylate (IAS), 5-[N-(iodoacetamidoethyl)amino]-naphthalene-1-sulphonate (IAEDANS) and 6-(4-iodoacetamidophenyl)aminonaphthalene-2-sulphonate (IAANS)) were shown to react at the same single thiol group on each enzyme subunit, leading to complete inactivation of the enzyme. The reaction with IAS was extremely rapid by comparison with the reaction with iodoacetamide or iodoacetate, but various lines of evidence suggest that IAS is not a true affinity label. However, kinetic and binding studies indicate that salicylate itself probably binds at the nucleotide-binding site on the enzyme. As the size of the modifying reagent increased, the first thiol group reacted more rapidly than the second; this trend was more pronounced at 0 degree C than at 25 degree C. With the largest modifying reagent used (IAANS), the pronounced biphasic nature of the modification reaction permitted the preparation of a hybrid enzyme in which only one subunit was modified, but a study of the thiol-group reactivity showed that this hybrid enzyme preparation underwent subunit rearrangement.

Kinetics of inactivation and molecular asymmetry of NAD-specific glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase of Pisum sativum

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate: NAD+ oxidoreductase (phosphorylating), EC 1.2.1.12) has been purified to homogeneity from pea seeds. The purified enzyme gave a single protein band on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (with and without sodium dodecyl sulfate; subunit molecular weight 38 000). It is free from bound nucleotides. The kinetics of heat inactivation of the crude enzyme extract as well as the purified enzyme are biphasic, in that exactly half of the activity is destroyed more rapidly than the residual half. The data are consistent with the rate equation: (formula: (see text): where A0 and A are activities at times zero and t, respectively, and k1 and k2 are first-order rate constants for the fast and slow phases, respectively. Addition of NAD+ slows down thermal inactivation, without altering the overall kinetic pattern. The activity lost due to the fast component (k1) of the reaction is regained on colling ('annealing'), whereas the slow reaction (k2) is not reversed, suggesting the following scheme: formula (see text): This is confirmed by plotting the activity after 'annealing' against initial period of heating. A single first-order rate constant (k2) is observed. The enzyme possesses about one reactive SH group per subunit which can be titrated with 5,5'-dithio-bis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid). Blocking of these groups inactivates the enzyme. Inactivation with 20 micrometer N-ethylmaleimide and 30 micrometer iodoacetate (at pH 8.6 and 33 degrees C) follows simple first-order kinetics (rate constants 0.099 and 0.139 min-1, respectively), suggesting that all SH groups react equally readily with these reagents. Reaction of the enzyme with 0.6 micrometer p-chloromercuri benzoate, however, shows biphasic kinetics similar to thermal inactivation. The reaction of p-chloromercuri benzoate with partially heat-inactivated enzyme (residual activity 37.5%) follows simple first-order kinetics. The molecular asymmetry demonstrated by these results must arise from the unique quaternary structure of the enzyme molecule, which is apparently made up of chemically identical subunits (pseudo-isologous association).

Preparation and properties of rabbit-muscle glyceraldehyde-phosphate dehydrogenase with equal binding parameters for the third and fourth NAD+ molecules

1. A method of preparing rabbit-muscle glyceraldehyde-phosphate dehydrogenase (D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate: NAD+ oxidoreductase (phosphorylating), EC 1.2.1.12) is described which yields a preparation differing in important respects from those previously described and resembling the enzyme isolated from sturgeon muscle. 2. Direct binding measurements at 25 degrees C by equilibrium gel filtration fit dissociation constants for the first two molecules that are too low to be measured by this technique and 0.9 micrometer for the third and fourth molecules. The dissociation constant of the fourth molecule is much lower than that previously reported for the rabbit-muscle enzyme. 3. In contrast to previous results with the rabbit-muscle enzyme, the increase in absorbance at 360 nm between three and four molecules of NAD+ bound to the enzyme was, within experimental error, the same as that with each of the first three molecules. 4. Data on the quenching of the protein fluorescence by NAD+ at 15 degrees C at different enzyme concentrations closely fit dissociation constants of 0.028 micrometer for the first two molecules and 0.27 micrometer for the third and fourth molecules.

Immobilized hybrids of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

Yeast glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate:NAD+ oxidoreductase (phosphorylating), EC 1.2.1.12) immobilized on CNBr-activated Sepharose 4-B has been subjected to dissociation to obtain matrix-bound dimeric species of the enzyme. Hybridization was then performed using soluble glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase isolated from rat skeletal muscle. Immobilized hybrid tetramers thus obtained were demonstrated to exhibit two distinct pH-optima of activity characteristic of the yeast and muscle enzymes, respectively. The results indicate that under appropriate conditions the activity of each of the dimers composing the immobilized hybrid tetramer can be studied separately.

Synthesis and use of bifunctional chloromethylalkanedione derivatives of variable chain length for cross-linking thiol groups in oligomeric proteins. Specific cross-linking in glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase

Bischloromethylpentanedione, bischloromethylhexanedione, bischloromethyloctanedione and bischloromethyldecanedione were synthesized from their corresponding dicarboxylic acids via the bis-acyl chloride and the bisdiazomethylketone derivatives. These compounds proved to be highly specific cross-linking reagents for rabbit skeletal-muscle glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Incubation of the enzyme with cross-linking reagents resulted in both a time- and concentration-dependent formation of covalently linked oligomeric structures. The major cross-linked product detected by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis was the dimer (mol. wt. 72000). Sepharose 6B chromatography of the cross-linked enzyme showed that it still existed as the tetramer. Cross-linking was dependent on the native structure of the enzyme, since it was abolished on denaturation of the enzyme. The actual covalently linked product depends on the conditions of modification and the chain length of the reagent. The maximum yield of dimer (70-80%) was obtained with bischloromethylhexanedione, and the yield decreased with either shorter- or longer-chain compounds. The calculated distance between the two reactive points in bischloromethylhexanedione is 1.21-1.45nm. Bischloromethylhexanedione modified at least two thiol groups per monomer. Modification of the active-site thiol, cysteine-149, was not essential for cross-linking, since glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase carboxymethylated on cysteine-149 still reacted to form the dimer. The rate of chemical cross-linking was markedly decreased by increasing the NAD(+) occupancy of the enzyme active sites. These experiments are discussed in terms of the asymmetry of the enzyme structure in solution.

An investigation of the nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide-induced 'tightening' of the structure of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase

An investigation was made of the effect of NAD+ analogues on subunit interactions in yeast and rabbit muscle glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenases by using the subunit exchange (hybridization) method described previously [e.g. see Osborne & Hollaway (1975) Biochem. J. 151, 37-45]. The ligands ATP, ITP, ADP, AMP, cyclic AMP and ADP-ribose like NADH, all caused an apparent weakening of intramolecular subunit interactions, whereas NAD+ caused an apparent increase in the stability of the tetrameric enzyme molecules. A mixture of NMN and AMP, although it did not simulate completely the NAD+-induced 'tightening' of the enzyme structure, did result in a more than 20-fold decrease in the rate of subunit exchange compared with that in the presence of AMP alone. These results show that occupancy of the NMN subsite of the enzyme NAD+-binding site is insufficient in itself to give the marked tightening of the enzyme structure induced by NAD+. The 'tightening' effect is specific in that it seems to require a phosphodiester link between NMN and ADP-ribose. These effects are discussed in terms of the detailed X-ray structure of the lobster holoenzyme [Buehner et al. (1974) J. Mol. Biol. 90, 25-49].

The investigation of substrate-induced changes in subunit interactions in glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenases by measurement of the kinetics and thermodynamics of subunit exchange

An investigation was made of changes in subunit interactions in glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase on binding NAD+, NADH and other substrates by using the previously developed method of measurement of rates and extent of subunit exchange between the rabbit enzyme (R4), yeast enzyme (Y4) and rabbit-yeast hybrid (R2Y2) [Osborne & Hollaway (1974) Biochem. J. 143, 651-662]. The free energy of activation for the conversion of tetramer into dimer for the rabbit enzyme (R4 leads to 2R2) is increased by at least 12kJ/mol in the presence of NAD+. This increase is interpreted in terms of an NAD+-induced 'tightening' of the tetrameric structure probably involving increased interaction at the subunit interfaces across the QR plane of the molecule [see Buehner et al. (1974) J. Mol. Biol. 82, 563-585]. This tightening of the structure only occurs on binding the third NAD+ molecule to a given enzyme molecule. Conversely, binding of NADH causes a decrease in the free energy of activation for the R4 leads to 2R2 and Y4 leads to 2Y2 conversions by at least 10kJ/mol. This is interpreted as a NADH-induced 'loosening' of the structures arising from decreased interactions across the subunit interfaces involving the QR dissociation plane. In the presence of NADH the increase in the rate of subunit exchange is such that it is not possible to separate the hybrid from the other species if electrophoresis is carried out with NADH in the separation media. In the presence of a mixture of NADH and NAD+ the effect of NAD+ on subunit exchange is dominant. The results are discussed in terms of the known co-operativty between binding sites in glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenases.

A double-beam rapid-scanning stopped-flow spectrophotometer

A double-beam rapid-wavelength-scanning stopped-flow spectrophotometer system based on the Norcon model 501 spectrometer was construced, which enables u.v.-or visible absorbance spectra to be recorded at the rate of 800/s after the rapid mixing (within 3ms) of two reactant solutions. Each spectrum spans about 200nm in 1ms. It is possible to record difference spectra during reactions with half-lives less than 10ms involving absorbance changes of less than 0.1 absorbance unit. Analogue circuitry is used to produce spectra of absorbance against wavelength. Up to 32 such spectra can be recorded at pre-selected times during a reaction and stored in an 8Kx8-bit-word hard-wired data-capture system to be subsequently displaned individually or simultaneously. Time-courses at different wavelengths can also be displayed. By averaging up to 216 spectra it is possible to record spectra under conditions of low signal-to-noise ratios...