Enzymes as biosensors. 2. Hysteretic response of chloroplastic fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase to fructose 2,6-bisphosphate

Estradiol-17β: Tracing its metabolic significance in female fatbody of fifth instar larvae of silkworm, Bombyx mori L (race: Nistari)

In recent years, various vertebrate peptide and steroid hormones have been identified in invertebrates, estradiol-17beta (E2) being a major one. We have specifically shown NADP-malate dehydrogenase (NADP-MDH) activity in fifth instar larval fatbody of female silkworm, Bombyx mori, as an E2 responsive parameter. Interestingly enough, estradiol-induced increase in the enzyme activity could be counteracted by simultaneous application of specific E2-inhibitor, ICI-182780. Further, a nice correlation was obtained among the E2 titre, specific *E2 binding and expression of NADP-MDH activity in fatbody during different days of normal fifth instar larval development. Though the nature of the binding sites is quite similar to known steroid receptors of vertebrate, the reported absence of estrogen receptor gene in some insects poses a question. A recent finding regarding the presence of an estrogen-related receptor ortholog in fruit fly may provide some answers. The specific effects elicited by estradiol in the female fatbody of this insect support its possibility of having an important metabolic function. This role played by E2, whether hormonal or not, is yet to be identified.

Thermodynamic analysis of the emergence of new regulatory properties in a phosphoribulokinase-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase complex

Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and phosphoribulokinase exist as stable enzymes and as part of a complex in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We show here that phosphoribulokinase exerts an imprinting on glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, which affects its catalysis by decreasing the energy barrier of the reactions with NADH or NADPH by 3.8 +/- 0.5 and 1.3 +/- 0.3 kJ.mol(-1). Phosphoribulokinase and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase within the complex are regulated by NADP(H) but not by NAD(H). The activities of the metastable phosphoribulokinase and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase released from the complex preincubated with NADP(H) are different from those of the metastable enzymes released from the untreated complex. NADP(H) increases phosphoribulokinase and NADPH-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase activities with a (~)K(0.5 (NADP)) of 0.68 +/- 0.16 mm and a (~)K(0.5 (NADPH)) of 2.93 +/- 0.87 mm and decreases NADH-dependent activity. 1 mm NADP increases the energy barrier of the NADH-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase-dependent reaction by 1.8 +/- 0.2 kJ.mol(-1) and decreases that of the reactions catalyzed by phosphoribulokinase and NADPH-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase by 3 +/- 0.2 and 1.2 +/- 0.3 kJ.mol(-1), respectively. These cofactors have no effect on the independent stable enzymes. Therefore, protein-protein interactions may give rise to new regulatory properties.

Kinetics of the conformational transition of the spinach chloroplast fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase induced by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate

The activation of oxidized chloroplast fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate and magnesium previously described at pH 7.5 [Soulié et al. (1988) Eur. J. Biochem. 176, 111-117] has now been studied at pH 8, the pH which prevails under light conditions in the chloroplast stroma. The process obeys a hysteretic mechanism but the rate of activation is considerably increased with half-times down to 50 s and the apparent dissociation constant of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate from the enzyme is lowered from 1 mM at pH 7.5 to 3.3 microM at pH 8. The process is strictly metal-dependent with a half-saturation concentration of 2.54 mM for magnesium. The conformational transition postulated in our hysteretic model has been investigated through both the spectrophometric and chemical modification approaches. The activation of the enzyme by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate in the presence of magnesium results in a slow modification of the ultraviolet absorption spectrum of the enzyme with an overall increase of 3% at 290 nm. The same treatment leads to the protection of two free sulfhydryls and an increased reactivity of one sulfhydryl group/enzyme monomer to modification by 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid). The titration of the exposed cysteinyl residue prevents the relaxation of enzyme species induced by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate to the native form. The activation of chloroplast fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate is discussed both with respect to the understanding of the overall regulation properties of the enzyme and to a possible physiological significance of this process.

pH-induced bistable dynamic behaviour in the reaction catalysed by glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and conformational hysteresis of the enzyme

1. Bistable (multiple stationary states) dynamic behaviour in the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase that was subjected to successive pH change was demonstrated in an open continuously stirred tank reactor. Although the enzyme under study did not exhibit an autocatalytic effect and was homogeneously distributed, bistability was shown to occur. 2. The successive pH changes of the enzyme solution corresponded to a pH transition (8.3 in equilibrium 2), i.e. an acidification (forward direction) and an alkalinization (reverse direction). By use of intrinsic protein fluorescence methods, a glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase conformational hysteresis was shown to exist concomitant with the pH transition before and after enzyme injection into the reactor. 3. The results obtained suggest that the enzyme behaves, conformationally, as a memory device that stores information about its pH history (i.e. the enzyme records information in its structure about the environment to which it was previously exposed) and transduces it in a non-linear dynamic fashion, producing the bistable behaviour observed in the open reactor.

Enzymes as biosensors. 1. Enzyme memory and sensing chemical signals

When a free enzyme exists under different conformations that 'slowly' isomerize during the conversion of a substrate into a product, the corresponding 'slow' relaxation component may interfere with the steady-state component. The apparent steady-state rate that may be measured under these conditions is called the meta-steady-state rate for it refers to the existence of metastable states of the enzyme during the reaction. By contrast to the real steady-state rate, the meta-steady-state rate is dependent upon the initial state of the enzyme, that is on the respective concentrations of the free enzyme forms. The simplest model that may display this type of behaviour is the mnemonical model. For a fixed concentration of the last product of the reaction sequence the meta-steady state is different depending on that concentration being reached by an increase or a decrease of a previous concentration. This means that the meta-steady-state rate describes a hysteresis loop as the product concentration is increased and decreased. Owing to the existence of metastable states, the enzyme system behaves as a biosensor that is able to detect both a concentration and the direction of a concentration change. The existence of the hysteresis loop of the meta-steady-state rate implies that the two free enzyme forms display hysteresis as well. A chemical potential, called the sensing potential, is specifically associated with the 'perception' of the direction of the thermodynamic force generated by the decrease or the increase of the concentration of the ligand that binds to one of the enzyme conformations. The sensing potential of the enzyme conformer that does not bind the product increases and reaches a plateau as the chemical potential of that product is raised. Alternatively the sensing potential of the other conformer vanishes at low and high chemical potentials of the product and is significant for intermediate chemical potentials. Enzymes that display very slow conformation changes may thus be viewed as elementary sensor devices.