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The activity of malic enzyme from Escherichia coli was unaffected by the monovalent cations Na+ or Li+ at 10 mM. At 100 mM, Li+ or Na+ inhibited the enzyme activity by 88% and 83%, respectively. However, the enzyme activity was stimulated by 40-80-fold with 10 mM K+, Rb+, Cs+, or NH4+. Less stimulation was observed with 100 mM of these stimulating cations. The stimulatory effect was lost after the enzyme was dialyzed against Tris-Cl buffer, but was regained after incubating the dialyzed enzyme with dithiothreitol. The regenerated enzyme was inactivated by 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid). The resulting inactive thionitrobenzoyl enzyme could be regenerated to the active thiol-enzyme by dithiothreitol or converted to the inactive thiocyanoylated enzyme by KCN. The thiocyanoylated enzyme was insensitive to K+ stimulation, which suggested the essentiality of the sulfhydryl groups of the E. coli malic enzyme.

A cDNA for duck liver 'malic' enzyme (EC 1.1.1.40) was subcloned into pUC-8, and the active enzyme was expressed in Escherichia coli TG-2 cells as a fusion protein including a 15-residue N-terminal leader from beta-galactosidase coded by the lacZ' gene. C99S and R70Q mutants of the enzyme were generated by the M13 mismatch technique. The recombinant enzymes were purified to near homogeneity by a simple two-step procedure and characterized relative to the enzyme isolated from duck liver. The natural duck enzyme has a subunit molecular mass of approx. 65 kDa, and the following kinetic parameters for oxidative decarboxylation of L-malate at pH 7.0: Km NADP+ (4.6 microM); Km L-malate (73 microM); kcat (160 s-1); Ka (2.4 microM) and Ka' (270 microM), dissociation constants of Mn2+ at 'tight' (activating) and 'weak' metal sites; and substrate inhibition (51% of kcat. at 8 mM-L-malate). Properties of the E. coli-derived recombinant wild-type enzyme are indistinguishable from those of the natural duck enzyme. Kinetic parameters of the R70Q mutant are relatively unaltered, indicating that Arg-70 is not required for the reaction. The C99S mutant has unchanged Km for NADP+ and parameters for the 'weak' sites (i.e. inhibition by L-malate, Ka'); however, kcat. decreased 3-fold and Km for L-malate and Ka each increased 4-fold, resulting in a catalytic efficiency [kcat./(Km NADP+ x Km L-malate x Ka)] equal to 3.7% of the natural duck enzyme. These results suggest that the positioning of Cys-99 in the sequence is important for proper binding of L-malate and bivalent metal ions.

Malic enzyme of duck liver is alkylated by bromopyruvate with half-of-the-sites stoichiometry, and with accompanying loss of oxidative decarboxylase and enhancement of pyruvate reductase activities as was previously shown for the pigeon enzyme (Hsu, R.Y. (1982) Mol. Cell. Biochem. 43, 3-26). In the present work, the alkylated enzyme is shown to bind NADPH, but not L-malate in the presence of MnCl2, indicating impairment of the enzyme site for the substrate and/or divalent metal. The enzyme was differentially labeled by 3-bromo-1-[14C]-pyruvate and digested with TPCK-treated trypsin. Two peptides bearing the susceptible residue were purified by high-performance liquid chromatography and sequenced. Peptide II has the sequence of FMPIVYTPTVGLAXQQYGLAFR, corresponding to residues 86-107 (temporary numbering) of the duck enzyme; cysteine-99(x) is not detected, indicating that it is the target of modification by bromopyruvate. Peptide I is a truncated form of peptide II lacking five amino acid residues at the C-terminal. Cysteine-99 is conserved in malic enzymes from duck, rat, mouse, maize, human, Flaveria trinervia and Bacillus stearothermophilus.

Incubation of malic enzyme (L-malate:NADP+ oxidoreductase (oxaloacetate-decarboxylating), EC 1.1.1.40) with ethoxyformic anhydride caused the time-dependent loss of its ability to catalyze reactions requiring the nucleotide cofactor NADP+ or NADPH, such as the oxidative decarboxylase, the NADP+ - stimualted oxalacetate decarboxylase, the pyruvate reductase, and the pyruvate-medium proton exchange activities. Similar loss of oxidative decarboxylase and pyruvate reductase activities was affected by photo-oxidation in the presence of rose bengal. The inactivation of oxidative decarboxylase activity by ethoxyformic anhydride was accompanied by the reaction of greater than or equal to 2.3 histidyl residues per enzyme site and was strongly inhibited by NADP+. Ethoxyformylation also impaired the ability of malic enzyme to bind NADP+ or NADPH. These results support the involvement of histidyl residue(s) at the nucleotide binding site of malic enzyme.

Treatment of malic enzyme with arginine-specific reagents phenylglyoxal or 2,3-butanedione results in pseudo-first-order loss of oxidative decarboxylase activity. In-activation by phenylglyoxal is completely prevented by saturating concentrations of NADP+, Mn2+, and substrate analog hydroxymalonate. Double log plots of pseudo-first-order rate constant versus concentration yield straight lines with identical slopes of unity for both reagents, suggesting that reaction of one molecule of reagent per active site is associated with activity loss. In parallel experiments, complete inactivation is accompanied by the incorporation of four [14C]phenylglyoxal molecules, and the loss of two arginyl residues per enzyme subunit, as determined by the colorimetric method of Yamasaki et al. (R. B. Yamasaki, D. A. Shimer, and R. E. Feeney (1981) Anal. Biochem. 14, 220-226). These results confirm a 2:1 ratio for the reaction between phenylglyoxal and arginine (K. Takahashi (1968) J. Biol. Chem. 243, 6171-6179) and yield a stoichiometry of two arginine residues reacted per subunit for complete inactivation, of which one is essential for enzyme activity as determined by the statistical method of Tsou (C. L. Tsou (1962) Acta Biochim. Biophys. Sinica 2, 203-211) and the Ray and Koshland analysis (W. J. Ray and D. E. Koshland (1961) J. Biol. Chem. 236, 1973-1979). Amino acid analysis of butanedione-modified enzyme also shows loss of arginyl residues, without significant decrease in other amino acids. Modification by phenylglyoxal does not significantly affect the affinity of this enzyme for NADPH. Binding of L-malate and its dicarboxylic acid analogs oxalate and tartronate is abolished upon modification, as is binding of the monocarboxylic acid alpha-hydroxybutyrate. The latter result indicates binding of the C-1 carboxyl group of the substrate to an arginyl residue on the enzyme.

Malic enzyme (L-malate:NADP+ oxidoreductase (decarboxylating) EC 1.1.1.40) catalyzes the incorporation of proton from medium water into pyruvate present either as the initial substrate or as the enzyme-bound product of malate decarboxylation. In the later reaction a single proton is incorporated into the methyl group of pyruvate. The pyruvate-medium proton exchange reaction requires Mg2+, NADPH and CO2-HCO3- as cofactors. The apparent Michaelis constants of pyruvate, NADPH and CO2-HCO3- are 4.8 mM, 2 microM and approx. 9 microM, respectively. The experimentally determined incorporation of 2.5 tritium atoms from tritiated water into pyruvate indicates that all three methyl protons of this compound are stereochemically equivalent in the exchange reaction. These results are consistent with the postulated kinetic mechanism for the malate reaction (Hsu, R.Y., Lardy, H.A. and Cleland, W.W. (1967) J. Biol. Chem. 242, 5315--5322), which predicts the formation of an enolpyruvate intermediate during the reaction. The rate of malic enzyme-catalyzed detritiation of beta-tritiated pyruvate is unaffected by modification of an essential protein thiol group with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) or KCN. Moreover, the native- and thiol-modified enzymes also catalyze the detritiation of beta-tritiated bromopyruvate at slower rates.

Malic enzyme of pigeon liver binds NADPH at four equivalent enzyme sites and binds Mn2+ and malate each at two sets of "tight" and "weak" sites with negative cooperativity [Pry, T. A., & Hsu, R. Y. (1980) Biochemistry 19, 951-962]. Stopped-flow studies on the displacement of NADPH from the malate-enzyme complexes E4-NADPH4, E4-Mn2(2+)-NADPH4, E4-Mn2(2+)-NADPH4-dimalate, and E4-Mn2(2+)-NADPH4-tetramalate by large excess NADP+ or its analogue phosphoadenosine(2')diphospho(5')ribose show that NADPH dissociates from the binary complex rapidly with a first-order rate constant of 427 s-1. Dissociation from the ternary E4-Mn2(2+)-NADPH4 complex containing two tightly bound Mn2+ ions can be described by a single first-order process with a rate constant of 135 s-1, or more satisfactorily by two simultaneous first-order processes attributable to the reactions of Mn2+-deficient (k congruent to 427 s-1) and Mn2+-liganded (k = 96 s-1) subunits. The latter equals twice the maximum steady-state turnover rate of 53.2 + 3.0 s-1 assigned to dissociation of the reduced nucleotide from transient E-Mn2+-NADPH, and this 2:1 ratio strongly supports our proposed "half-of-the-sites" model [Hsu, R. Y., & Pry, T. A. (1980) Biochemistry 19, 962-968]. Dissociation from the E4-Mn2(2+)-NADPH4-dimalate complex (k = 100 s-1) follows only the slower process, suggesting that occupancy of malate at two sites tightens enzyme-bound NADPH on the adjacent sites. Binding of malate at two additional weak sites yields E4-Mn2(2+)-NADPH4-tetramalate and a NADPH dissociation rate constant of 2.69 s-1. The 97% decrease in NADPH dissociation parallels the observed 93% maximal inhibition by malate and is the cause of substrate inhibition.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

As determined by EPR, malic enzyme from pigeon liver binds Mn2+ with a half-site stoichiometry of two tight binding sites (KD=6 to 10 mum) per enzyme tetramer and at two to four weak binding sites (KD=0.43 to 1.34 mM). The activation of malic enzyme by Mn2+ at high levels of L-malate shows biphasic kinetics yielding two activator constants for Mn2+. The dissociation constants of Mn2+ for both classes of sites are of the same order as the kinetically determined activator constants of Mn2+, indicating active site binding at both classes of binding sites. The binding of Mn2+ to the tight sites enhances the paramagnetic effect of Mn2+ on 1/T1 of water protons by a factor (epsilon) of 17, while binding at the weak sites yields a smaller epsilon of 11. The coenzymes TPN and TPNH have no effects on epsilon, while the carboxylic acid substrates L-malate and pyruvate and the inhibitors D-malate and oxalate significantly decrease epsilon. TPNH causes a 38-fold tightening of binding of the substrate L-malate to the enzyme-Mn2+ complex, consistent with the previously described highly ordered kinetic scheme, but only a 2-fold tightening of binding of the competitive inhibitor D-malate. The dissociation constant of L-malate from the quaternary E-Mn2+-TPNH-L-malate complex (32 muM) agrees with the Km of L-malate (25 muM), indicating active site binding. The dissociation constants of pyruvate from the ternary E-Mn2+-pyruvate complex (12 mM) and from the quaternary E-Mn2+-TPN-pyruvate complex (20 mM) are similar to the Km of pyruvate (5 mM), also indicating active site binding and a less highly ordered kinetic scheme for the reactions of pyruvate than for those of L-malate. Analysis of the frequency dependence of 1/T1 of water protons indicates that two fast exchanging water ligands remain coordinated to Mn2+ in the binary E-Mn2+ complex. The binding of the substrates L-malate and pyruvate and of the transition state analog oxalate to the E-Mn2+ complex decrease the number of fast exchanging water ligands on Mn2+ by approximately 1, but the binding of D-malate has no significant effect on this parameter, indicating the occlusion or replacement of a water ligand of the enzyme-bound Mn2+ by a properly oriented substituent on C-2 of the substrate. Occlusion rather than replacement of a water ligand by pyruvate is established by studies of 1/T1 of 13COO- and 13CO-enriched pyruvate which indicate second sphere Mn2+ to pyruvate distances of 4.6 A (COO-) and 4.8 A (CO) in the ternary enzyme-Mn2+-pyruvate complex. Formation of the quaternary complex with TPN increases these distances by 0.8 A, indicating the participation of a second sphere enzyme-Mn2+-(H2O)-pyruvate complex in catalysis. Thus, malic enzyme, like five other enzymes which utilize metals to polarize carbonyl groups, forms a second sphere complex with its substrate.

Malic enzyme (ME) from pigeon liver is a tetrameric protein containing apparently identical subunits. In the present study, equilibrium dialysis and fluorescence titration techniques are employed to determine the binding parameters of nucleotide cofactors, malate, and the inhibitor oxalate. ME binds NADP+ or NADPH at four independent and equivalent sites with dissociation constants of 1.33 microM (pH 7.5, 4 degrees C) and 0.29 microM (pH 7.0, 5 degrees C), respectively, showing "all-of-the-sites" reactivity. The affinity of both nucleotides decreases with increasing temperature, yielding delta Hdissociation values of 11.4 kcal/mol for E-NADP+ and 8.9 kcal/mol for E-NADPH, thus implicating the involvement of polar forces in the binding process. The affinity of NADP+ is independent of pH between 6.1 and 8.4 whereas that of NADPH is highly pH dependent and decreases approximately 63-fold from pH 6.0 to pH 8.0. The pH profile suggests the participation of a protonated enzyme group(s) (pK = 7.2-7.5) in NADPH binding, probably a histidine residue. The affinity of NADP+ is enhanced ca. twofold by pyruvate, in the presence of Mn2+ (50-100 microM) saturating only two "tight" metal sites [Hsu, R. Y., Mildvan, A. S., Chang, G. G., & Fung, C. H. (1976) J. Biol. Chem. 251, 6574]. Binding of Mn2+ at weak metal sites (KD congruent to 0.9 mM) prevents this change. Malate binds free ME or binary E-Mn2+ and E-NADP+ (H) complexes weakly with dissociation constants of greater than or equal to 2 mM. The affinity is significantly increased by Mn2+ and NADPH in the ternary E-Mn2+-NADPH complex, yielding two "tight" (KD = 22-30 microM) and two "weak" (KD = 250-400 microM) malate sites per enzyme tetramer as the result of either preexisting nonidentity or negative cooperativity between intitially identical sites. The transition-state inhibitor oxalate binds ME tightly (KD = 65 microM) at the two tight malate sites, showing "half-of-the-sites" stoichiometry. The binding parameters are unaffected by Mn2+, whereas the affinity of this inhibitor is enhanced 3.5-fold by saturation with NADPH. Further evidence for the half-of-the-sites reactivity of the affinity label bromopyruvate [Pry, T. A., & Hsu, R. Y. (1978) Biochemistry 17, 4024] is obtained by sequential modification of the four putatively identical SH groups of ME with bromopyruvate, 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitro-benzoic acid), and K14CN. The modified enzyme has a structure of E4(S-pyr)2(S-14CN)2 and is "inactive" in the reaction with malate. In contrast, the E(S-14CN)4 derivative prepared in the absence of bromopyruvate is completely active. The oxidative decarboxylase reaction is inhibited by high concentrations (greater than or equal to 0.3 mM) of malate in the presence of tightly bound Mn2+. Direct binding studies show a parallel increase in the affinity of NADPH, confirming our previous notion [Reynolds, C. H., Hsu, R. Y., Matthews, B., Pry, T. A., & Daibits the rate-limiting NADPH release step.

Malic enzyme from pigeon liver is alkylated by the substrate analogue bromopyruvate, resulting in the concomitant loss of its oxidative decarboxylase and oxalacetate decarboxylase activities, but not its ability to reduce alpha-keto acids. The inactivation of oxidative decarboxylase activity follows saturation kinetics, indicating the formation of an enzyme-bromopyruvate complex (K congruent to 8 mM) prior to alkylation. The inactivation is inhibited by metal ions and pyridine nucleotide cofactors. Protection of malic enzyme by the substrates L-malate and pyruvate and the inhibitors tartronate and oxalate requires the presence of the above cofactors, which tighten the binding of these carboxylic acids in accord with the ordered kinetic scheme (Hsu, R. Y., Lardy, H. A., and Cleland, W. W. (1967), J. Biol. Chem. 242, 5315-5322). Bromopyruvate is reduced to L-bromolactate by malic enzyme and is an effective inhibitor of L-malate and pyruvate in the overall reaction. The apparent kinetic constants (90 muM-0.8 mM) are one to two orders of magnitude lower than the half-saturation constant (K) of inactivation, indicating a similar tightening of bromopyruvate binding in the E-NADP+ (NADPH)-Mn2+ (Mg2+)-BP complexes. During alkylation, bromopyruvate interacts initially at the carboxylic acid substrate pocket of the active site, as indicated by the protective effect of substrates and the ability of this compound to form kinetically viable complexes with malic enzyme, particularly as a competitive inhibitor of pyruvate carboxylation with a Ki (90 muM) in the same order as its apparent Michaelis constant of 98 muM. Subsequent alkylation of a cysteinyl residue blocks the C-C bond cleavage step. The incorporation of radioactivity from [14C]bromopyruvate gives a half-site stoichiometry of two carboxyketomethyl residues per tetramer, indicating strong negative cooperativity between the four subunits of equal size, or alternatively the presence of structurally dissimilar active sites.

1. Pigeon liver ;malic' enzyme [l-malate-NADP(+) oxidoreductase (decarboxylating); EC 1.1.1.40] was shown to catalyse the reductase reaction: [Formula: see text] l-Malate was identified as the reaction product, and was formed in stoicheiometric amount. 2. In addition to oxaloacetate and pyruvate, a number of other alpha-oxo carboxylic acids were also reduced.