Kinetic misinterpretation of a coupled enzyme reaction can lead to the assumption of an enzyme-enzyme interaction. The example of 3-phospho-D-glycerate kinase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase couple

Loose interaction between glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and phosphoglycerate kinase revealed by fluorescence resonance energy transfer-fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy in living cells

Loose interaction between the glycolytic enzymes glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) was visualized in living CHO-K1 cells by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), using time-domain fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. FRET between active tetrameric subunits of GAPDH linked to cerulean or citrine was observed, and this FRET signal was significantly attenuated by coexpression of PGK. Also, direct interaction between GAPDH-citrine and PGK-cerulean was observed by FRET. The strength of FRET signals between them was dependent on linkers that connect GAPDH to citrine and PGK to cerulean. A coimmunoprecipitation assay using hemagglutinin-tagged GAPDH and FLAG-tagged PGK coexpressed in CHO-K1 cells supported the FRET observation. Taken together, these results demonstrate that a complex of GAPDH and PGK is formed in the cytoplasm of living cells.

19F NMR measurements of the rotational mobility of proteins in vivo

Three glycolytic enzymes, hexokinase, phosphoglycerate kinase, and pyruvate kinase, were fluorine labeled in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by biosynthetic incorporation of 5-fluorotryptophan. 19F NMR longitudinal relaxation time measurements on the labeled enzymes were used to assess their rotational mobility in the intact cell. Comparison with the results obtained from relaxation time measurements of the purified enzymes in vitro and from theoretical calculations showed that two of the labeled enzymes, phosphoglycerate kinase and hexokinase, were tumbling in a cytoplasm that had a viscosity approximately twice that of water. There were no detectable signals from pyruvate kinase in vivo, although it could be detected in diluted cell extracts, indicating that there was some degree of motional restriction of the enzyme in the intact cell.

Conformational changes in proteins induced by dynamic associations. A tryptophan phosphorescence study

Random collisions between macromolecules lead to dynamic associations (lengthy encounters) that in principle could affect their conformation and, in the case of enzymes, their binding and catalytic properties. Exploiting the unique sensitivity of the phosphorescence lifetime, tau, of Trp to the internal flexibility of globular proteins we probed the perturbations induced in the structure of the coenzyme-binding domain of alcohol dehydrogenase (LADH) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GraPDH) by the presence in solution of other dehydrogenases and of functionally unrelated proteins. With Trp314 of LADH, the results emphasize that while tau is not affected by the concentration of LADH itself, the addition of micromolar quantities of other proteins causes a distinct reduction in it. From the linear increase of 1/tau with protein concentration one obtains values for the apparent second-order Stern-Volmer rate constant that range between 2-200 x 10(3) M-1 s-1, decreasing 2-3-fold when ternary complexes of LADH with NADH or NAD+ and inhibitors are involved. Similar effects were observed with Trp310 of GraPDH except that with sorbitol dehydrogenase as perturbant the increase of 1/tau is hyperbolic and governed by an apparent dissociation constant of about 1 microM. Finally, glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, the strongest perturber of both LADH and GraPDH, has either no effect on lactic dehydrogenase from pig heart or induces a moderate lengthening of the triplet lifetime of the rabbit muscle enzyme. Because Stern-Volmer behavior is typical also of diffusion-mediated quenching reactions, a parallel investigation with cysteine, cystine and N-acetyl-tryptophanamide demonstrated that among potential, protein-associated, quenching moieties namely, -SH, -S-S- and indole groups, only the latter has rate constants approaching the magnitude of protein perturbants. Since considerable evidence rules out the predominance of such quenching reactions, these findings confirm a subtle form of communication between protein molecules in solution. The lack of specificity and the similar effects between dehydrogenases with right and wrong stereospecificity for direct coenzyme transfer suggests that the perturbations monitored are unrelated to this function.

A possible in vivo mechanism of intermediate transfer by glycolytic enzyme complexes: steady state fluorescence anisotropy analysis of an enzyme complex formation

Rate constants of dissociation (k(off)) and association (k(on)) of the bienzyme complex yeast glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase--yeast alcohol dehydrogenase have been determined in the absence and presence of NAD or NADH by fluorescence anisotropy measurements. We found that dissociation of the complex is considerably slower than catalytic turnover of either of the enzymes (that is k(off) much less than kcat) irrespective of the presence of coenzymes. A perusal of the literature reveals that this relation invariably applies to all systems studied so far. These observations all taken together constitute compelling evidence that direct metabolite transfer in enzyme complexes cannot be satisfactorily described by invoking the dynamic model but requires a model assuming more lasting complexes. This seems to support the case of the temporary-stationary model suggested by one of us. Implications of this conclusion are treated in depth and further evidence is cited under Discussion.