Chemical evidence for the pH-dependent control of ion-pair geometry in cathepsin B. Benzofuroxan as a reactivity probe sensitive to differences in the mutual disposition of the thiolate and imidazolium components of cysteine proteinase catalytic sites

Evaluation of cathepsin B activity for degrading collagen IV using a surface plasmon resonance method and circular dichroism spectroscopy

Evaluation of cathepsin B activities for degrading collagen IV and heat-denatured collagen IV (gelatin) were performed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and circular dichroism (CD) measurements. The optimal pH of cathepsin B activity for degrading each substrate was around 4.0. The ΔRU(15 min), which is a decrease in the SPR signal at 15 min after injection of cathepsin B, was smaller for collagen IV than for heat-denatured collagen IV owing to the presence of triple-helical conformation. An unstable nature of the triple-helical conformation of collagen IV at pH 4.0 was shown by the CD study. Degrading collagen IV by cathepsin B was facilitated owing to a local unwinding of the triple-helical conformation caused by proteolytic cleavage of the non-helical region. The concentration dependence of the initial velocity for degrading collagen IV by cathepsin B at pH 4.0 was biphasic, showing that cathepsin B at low concentration exhibits exopeptidase activity, while the enzyme at high concentration exhibits endopeptidase activity. The kinetic parameters for the exopeptidase activity of cathepsin B toward collagen IV and heat-treated collagen IV were evaluated and discussed in terms of the protease mechanism.

Regulation of cathepsin B activity by cysteine and related thiols

We studied the mode of regulation of the activity of mature cathepsin B (CB) by L-cysteine and some related thiols. The activity of CB with Z-Arg-Arg-NHMec as substrate was gradually inhibited over a range of increasing concentration of Cys, Cys methyl ester (CysOMe), Cys ethyl ester (CysOEt), N-acetyl-Cys (N-AcCys) and 3-mercaptopropionic acid. However, the inhibition of CB peaked at a definite value of [Cys], [CysOMe], [CysOEt] and [N-AcCys] and was gradually reversed over a range of higher concentrations of Cys and its esters. The maximum inhibitory concentrations of Cys, CysOME, CysOEt and N-AcCys showed a positive relationship to the pKa(RSH) values of the thiols and those of CysOEt and Cys decreased with increasing pH. The capability of the thiols to overcome their own inhibitory effect on CB was dependent on the concentration of their thiolate anion (RS-). However, the preincubation-dilution experiments showed that Cys and N-AcCys did not interact with active CB via a covalent mode. The inhibition of CB by N-AcCys was competitive and could be reversed by CysOMe. This activity-recovering effect of CysOMe was concentration-dependent and obeyed the Michaelis-Menten saturation kinetics over a profound increase of [RS-]. CB reacting in an environment of concurrently decreasing [RS-] and increasing [RSH], which was achieved by means of carboxylesterase-catalyzed deesterification of CysOEt to Cys, was progressively inhibited. Cys and N-AcCys also inhibited the fragmentation of histone H4 by CB and their concentration-dependent inhibitory profiles were qualitatively similar to those observed with Z-Arg-Arg-NHMec. Taken together, the results indicate that the RSH form of Cys and related thiols inhibits the activity of CB while the RS- form of these thiols counteracts or reverses the inhibitory action of the RSH form. This previously unrecognized thiol-thiolate anion regulation mechanism might be involved in a dynamic regulation of CB activity in endosomes and lysosomes and at the sites of lysosome-driven pericellular proteolysis.

Molecular cloning of cDNA for the 29 kDa proteinase participating in decomposition of the larval fat body during metamorphosis of Sarcophaga peregrina (flesh fly)

A cDNA clone for the 29 kDa proteinase participating in tissue disintegration during metamorphosis of Sarcophaga was isolated. This proteinase, named Sarcophaga cathepsin B, consisted of 256 amino acid residues, and contained three putative N-glycosylation sites. By comparison with other cathepsins B, its unique substrate specificity was partly explained by Ala at position 248.

Nature of papain products resulting from inactivation by a peptidyl O-acyl hydroxamate

Mass spectrometry has been used to provide insights into the mechanism of inhibition of cysteine proteases by a hydroxylamine derivative, CBZ-Phe-Gly-NH-O-CO-(2,4,6-Me3)Ph. An oxidized form of papain resulting from the incubation of the enzyme with the peptidyl hydroxamate in the absence of a reducing agent has been identified as a sulfinic acid. The presence of a covalent enzyme-inhibitor complex of molecular mass consistent with a sulfenamide adduct of papain could also be detected by this method. Implications on the mechanism of inactivation of cysteine proteases by peptidyl hydroxamates are discussed.

Supracrystallographic resolution of interactions contributing to enzyme catalysis by use of natural structural variants and reactivity-probe kinetics

1. The influence on the reactivities of the catalytic sites of papain (EC 3.4.22.2) and actinidin (3.4.22.14) of providing for interactions involving the S1-S2 intersubsite regions of the enzymes was evaluated by using as a series of thiol-specific two-hydronic-state reactivity probes: n-propyl 2-pyridyl disulphide (I) (a 'featureless' probe), 2-(acetamido)ethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide (II) (containing a P1-P2 amide bond), 2-(acetoxy)ethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide (III) [the ester analogue of probe (II)] and 2-carboxyethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide N-methylamide (IV) [the retroamide analogue of probe (II)]. Syntheses of compounds (I), (III) and (IV) are reported. 2. The reactivities of the two enzymes towards the four reactivity probes (I)-(IV) and also that of papain towards 2-(N'-acetyl-L-phenylalanylamino)ethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide (VII) (containing both a P1-P2 amide bond and an L-phenylalanyl side chain as an occupant for the S2 subsite), in up to four hydronic (previously called protonic) states, were evaluated by analysis of pH-dependent stopped-flow kinetic data (for the release of pyridine-2-thione) by using an eight-parameter rate equation [described in the Appendix: Brocklehurst & Brocklehurst (1988) Biochem. J. 256, 556-558] to provide pH-independent rate constants and macroscopic pKa values. The analysis reveals the various ways in which the two enzymes respond very differently to the binding of ligands in the S1-S2 intersubsite regions despite the virtually superimposable crystal structures in these regions of the molecules. 3. Particularly striking differences between the behaviour of papain and that of actinidin are that (a) only papain responds to the presence of a P1-P2 amide bond in the probe such that a rate maximum at pH 6-7 is produced in the pH-k profile in place of the rate minimum, (b) only in the papain reactions does the pKa value of the alkaline limb of the pH-k profile change from 9.5 to approx. 8.2 [the value characteristic of a pH-(kcat./Km) profile] when the probe contains a P1-P2 amide bond, (c) only papain reactivity is affected by two positively co-operative hydronic dissociations with pKI congruent to pKII congruent to 4 and (d) modulation of the reactivity of the common -S(-)-ImH+ catalytic-site ion-pair (Cys-25/His-159 in papain and Cys-25/His-162 in actinidin) by hydronic dissociation with pKa approx. 5 is more marked and occurs more generally in reactions of actinidin than is the case for papain reactions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Differences in the chemical and catalytic characteristics of two crystallographically 'identical' enzyme catalytic sites. Characterization of actinidin and papain by a combination of pH-dependent substrate catalysis kinetics and reactivity probe studies targeted on the catalytic-site thiol group and its immediate microenvironment

The characteristics of actinidin (EC 3.4.22.14) and papain (EC 3.4.22.2), two cysteine proteinases whose catalytic-site regions appear to superimpose to a degree that approaches atomic co-ordinate accuracy of both crystal structures, were evaluated by determining (a) the pH-dependence in acid media of the acylation process of the catalytic act (k+2/Ks) using N alpha-benzoyl-L-arginine p-nitroanilide (L-Bz-Arg-Nan) as substrate and (b) the sensitivity of the reactivity of the catalytic-site thiol group and its pH-dependence to structural change in small, thiol-specific, two-protonic-state reactivity probes (2,2'-dipyridyl disulphide and methyl 2-pyridyl disulphide) where enzyme-probe contacts should be restricted to areas close to the catalytic site. Distortion of the catalytic sites of the two enzymes at pH less than 4 was evaluated over time-scales appropriate for both stopped-flow reactivity probe kinetics (less than or equal to 1-2 s) and steady-state substrate catalysis kinetics (3-5 min) by using the 2,2'-dipyridyl disulphide monocation as a titrant for non-distorted catalytic sites. This permitted a lower pH limit to be defined for valid kinetic analysis of both types. The behaviour of the enzymes at pH less than 4 requires a kinetic model in which the apparently biomolecular reaction of enzyme with probe reagent is separated from the process leading to loss of conformational integrity by a potentially reversible step. The acylation of actinidin with L-Bz-Arg-Nan in acidic media occurs in two protonic states, one produced by raising the pH across pKa less than 4 which probably characterizes the formation of -S-/-ImH+ ion pair (pKa approx. 3) and the other, of higher reactivity, produced by raising the pH across pKa 5.5, which may characterize rearrangement of catalytic-site geometry. The pH-dependence of the acylation of papain by L-Bz-Arg-Nan is quite different and is not influenced by protonic dissociation with pKa values in the range 5-6. The earlier conclusion that the acylation of papain depends on two protonic dissociations each with pKa approx. 4 was confirmed. This argument is now more firmly based because titration with 2,2'-dipyridyl disulphide permits the loss of conformational integrity to be taken into account in the analysis of the kinetic data at very low pH. Methyl 2-pyridyl disulphide was synthesized by reaction of pyridine-2-thione with methyl methanethiolsulphonate and its pKa at I = 0.1 was determined by spectral analysis at 307 nm to be 2.8.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Chromophoric and fluorophoric peptide substrates cleaved through the dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase activity of cathepsin B

The action of bovine spleen cathepsin B as a dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase on newly synthesized substrates of the type peptidyl-X-p-nitrophenylalanyl (Phe(NO2))-Y (X,Y = amino acid residue) or 5-dimethylaminonaphthalene-1-sulfonyl (Dns)-peptidyl-X-Phe(NO2)-Y was investigated. The kinetic parameters of hydrolysis of the X-Phe(NO2) bond were determined by difference spectrophotometry (delta epsilon 310 = 1600 M-1 cm-1) or by spectrofluorometry by following the five- to eightfold increase of Dns-group fluorescence with excitation at 350 nm and emission at 535 nm. The substrates were moderately sensitive to cathepsin B; kcat varied from 0.7 to 4 s-1 at pH 5 and 25 degrees C; Km varied from 6 to 240 microM. The very acidic optima of pH 4-5 are characteristic for dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase activity of cathepsin B. Bovine spleen cathepsins S and H had little and no activity, respectively, when assayed with Pro-Glu-Ala-Phe(NO2)-Gly. These peptides should be a valuable tool for routine assays and for mechanistic studies on cathepsin B.

Substrate-derived two-protonic-state electrophiles as sensitive kinetic specificity probes for cysteine proteinases. Activation of 2-pyridyl disulphides by hydrogen-bonding

1. 2-(N'-Acetyl-L-phenylalanylamino)ethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide [compound (III)] and 2-(acetamido)ethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide [compound (IV)] were synthesized by acylation of the common intermediate, 2-aminoethyl 2'-pyridyl disulphide, to provide examples of chromogenic thiol-specific substrate-derived two-protonic-state electrophilic probe reagents. These two reagents, together with n-propyl 2-pyridyl disulphide [compound (II)], provide structural variation in the non-pyridyl part of the molecule from a simple hydrocarbon side chain in compound (II) to a P1-P2 amide bond in compound (IV) and further to both a P1-P2 amide bond and a hydrophobic side chain (of phenylalanine) at P2 as a potential occupant of S2 subsites. 2. These disulphides were used as reactivity probes to investigate specificity and binding-site-catalytic-site signalling in a number of cysteine proteinases by determining (a) the reactivity at pH 6.0 at 25 degrees C at I 0.1 of compound (III) (a close analogue of a good papain substrate) towards 2-mercaptoethanol, benzimidazol-2-ylmethanethiol [compound (V), as a minimal catalytic-site model], chymopapains B1-B3, chymopapain A, papaya proteinase omega, actinidin, cathepsin B and papain, (b) the effect of changing the structure of the probe as indicated above on the reactivities of compound (V) and of the last five of these enzymes, and (c) the forms of pH-dependence of the reactivities of papain and actinidin towards compound (III). 3. The kinetic data suggest that reagents of the type investigated may be sensitive probes of molecular recognition features in this family of enzymes and are capable not only of detecting differences in binding ability of the various enzymes but also of identifying enzyme-ligand contacts that provide for binding-site-catalytic-site signalling mechanisms. 4. The particular value of this class of probe appears to derive from the possibility of activating the 2-mercaptopyridine leaving group not only by formal protonation, as was recognized previously [see Brocklehurst (1982) Methods Enzymol. 87C, 427-469], but also by hydrogen-bonding to the pyridyl nitrogen atom when the appropriate geometry in the catalytic site is provided by enzyme-ligand contacts involving the non-pyridyl part of the molecule.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)