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Three major metabolites in the Entner-Doudoroff pathway, 6-phosphogluconate, 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate, and pyruvate can be detected and quantified by HPLC with pulsed amperometric detection. Resolution is achieved by ion-exchange chromatography at alkaline pH with isocratic elution in 5 to 10 min. Detection limits are in the subnanomolar range, and detector response is linear over 3-4 orders of magnitude. This method can be employed for the assay of the enzymes of the pathway, 6-phosphogluconate dehydratase (EC 4.2.1.12) and 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolase (EC 4.1.2.14), eliminating the need for coupling enzymes as in the previously employed spectrophotometric assays. The lag in pyruvate production seen in the coupled enzyme spectrophotometric assay for 6-phosphogluconate dehydratase is absent in the HPLC/pulsed amperometric detection assay. This lag represents an artifact of a slow tautomerism of 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate which must precede its utilization by the coupling enzyme, 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolase. Kinetic data on the approach to equilibrium of 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolase-catalyzed interconversion of 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate, pyruvate, and glyceral-dehyde-3-phosphate can be also accurately quantified by HPLC with pulsed amperometric detection.

2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolase (E.C. 4.1.2.14) has been purified in two chromatographic steps to 99% purity in 73% overall yield from Azotobacter vinelandii. The pure enzyme is a 70 kD trimeric Class I aldolase, inhibitable by bromopyruvate or pyruvate plus sodium borohydride, with a specific activity of 625 mumol per min per mg protein and a Km of 38 microM for 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate. The enzyme also has 2-keto-4-hydroxy glutarate aldolase (E.C. 4.1.3.16) activity, with a specific activity of 4.8 mumol per min per mg protein and a Km of 39 microM. 2-keto-4-hydroxy glutarate inhibits the 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolase activity of the enzyme with an apparent Ki of 0.17 mM. Slow steps following formation of the Schiff base intermediate between KHG and the enzyme are responsible for both the slower turnover of this substrate and for its inhibitory effect.

An assay method is described for measuring the catalytic activity of glutamine: 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate amidotransferase (EC 2.4.2.14), the first enzyme in the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway. Phosphoribosylamine, the unstable product of the enzymatic reaction, is trapped by glycinamide ribonucleotide synthetase (EC 6.3.4.13), the second enzyme in the pathway, to form the stable product glycinamide ribonucleotide. Glycinamide ribonucleotide is resolved by ion-exchange HPLC at alkaline pH and quantified by the use of a pulsed amperometric detector. The assay is specific, reproducible, rapid (15 min chromatography, including column recycling and stabilization), convenient (no radioactive materials used), linear at a wide range of glycinamide ribonucleotide concentrations, and sensitive at subnanomole levels even with crude extracts. Both the glutamine- and ammonia-dependent activity of glutamine: 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate amidotransferase can be accurately quantified.

A family of small molecular weight proteins with thiol-disulfide exchange activity have been discovered, widely distributed from E. coli to mammalian systems, called thioltransferases or glutaredoxins. There are no substantiated reports of thioltransferases-glutaredoxins in plants; however, partially purified dehydroascorbate reductase from peas had thiol-disulfide exchange catalytic activity using glutathione as reductant and S-sulfocysteine as thiosulfate cosubstrate (unpublished data). Thus, this class of proteins is universally distributed. Based on mutagenesis studies, a sequence of Cys-Pro-Tyr(Phe)-Cys- followed by Arg-Lys- or Lys alone is critical for both the thiol-disulfide exchange reaction and the dehydroascorbate reductase activity. The dithiol-disulfide loop represented by this structure is unique since the cystine closer to the N-terminus has a highly acidic thiol pKa (3.8 as determined for the pig liver enzyme) that contributes to the protein's high S- nucleophilicity. Compared with the microbial enzyme, the mammalian thioltransferases (glutaredoxins) are extended at both N and C termini by 10-12 amino acid residues, including a second pair of cysteines toward the C-terminus with no known special function. Yeast thioltransferase is more like mammalian enzymes in length (106 amino acids) but more like E. coli glutaredoxin in being unblocked at the N-terminus and having only one set of cysteines; that is, at the active center. The three mammalian enzymes, for which sequences are available, are blocked at the N-terminus by an acetyl group linked to alanine with no known special function other than possibly to impart greater cellular turnover stability. A report of carbohydrate (8.6%) content in rat liver thioltransferase has not been verified by more sensitive methods of carbohydrate analysis, nor has carbohydrate been identified in samples of purified glutaredoxin from any source. Thiol transferase and glutaredoxin are two names for the same protein based on similarity of amino acid sequence, immunochemical cross-reactivity, and other enzyme properties. The inability of thioltransferase from some mammalian sources to act as an electron carrier in ribonucleotide reductase systems, whether homologous or heterologous in origin, remains to be explained in future studies.

Under anaerobic conditions, recombinant pig liver thioltransferase (glutaredoxin)(TT, GRX) (EC 1.8.4.1) was strongly inhibited by cis and carbo-platin and somewhat less sensitive to trans-platin, in vitro. By extrapolation to total inhibition, the ratio of platinum drug/thioltransferase was approximately 1.0 for cis and carbo-platin, but greater than 1.0 for trans-platin. When thioltransferase was not reduced, inhibition by preincubation with the platinum complexes required molar excesses of 1,300 and 675 to one for cis-platin and trans-platin, respectively or 400-500 microM for 50% inhibition. The inhibition of thioltransferase at high drug concentrations in the presence of oxygen was associated with cross-linking of monomers into dimers within 5 min and, in the case of cis-platin treatment, to trimers in 20 min incubation.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is extensively employed for protein purification by fractional precipitation. Efficiency of precipitation is highest when the solution pH is near the isoelectric point of the target protein. At pH values far from the isoelectric point of the target protein, proteins develop a net positive or negative charge and are not more resistant to precipitation. We have found that divalent cations (Ba2+, Sr2+, and Ca2+) or divalent anions (SO4(2-)) significantly change the pattern of PEG precipitation when the ion is chosen so as to counteract the expected net charge on the target protein. At moderate (5-50 mM) concentrations of Ba2+, negatively charged proteins can be precipitated from solution at pH values as high as 10 with efficiency unchanged from precipitation at pH values near their isoelectric point values. The mechanism of PEG precipitation of protein at these high pH values appears to be unchanged from the mechanism operative at the protein isoelectric point. Precipitation is rapid and the capacity for protein precipitation is high. There is no detectable coprecipitation of small molecules (AMP, ATP, and NADH) or soluble proteins (carbonic anhydrase) induced when large quantities of protein are precipitated by this method. The purification of bovine carbonic anhydrase from erythrocyte lysate is more efficient at pH 10 in the presence of Ba2+ than is conventional PEG precipitation carried out at the isoelectric point of carbonic anhydrase. Application of these observations should broaden the utility of protein purification by fractional precipitation with PEG.

The effect of salts on the catalytic activity of the molybdenum-containing nitrogenase complex from Azotobacter vinelandii has been investigated. NaCl was found to inhibit the reduction of the substrates, protons, acetylene, and dinitrogen by a common mechanism. The pattern of inhibition is sigmoidal, indicating a highly cooperative interaction involving multiple inhibitor sites. Sixteen other salts that were investigated also exhibited this pattern of inhibition. NaCl functions as a dead-end inhibitor without altering the number of MgATP hydrolyzed/electron transferred to substrate. The level of expressed inhibition is sensitive to MgATP concentration, the molar ratio of the MoFe-protein (Av1) to the Fe-protein (Av2), and total protein concentration. In addition, NaCl is an inhibitor of the MgATP-dependent, iron chelation of Av2. Although the inhibition is exhibited over the same salt concentration range as that for inhibition of substrate reduction, the pattern of inhibition is hyperbolic. A model based upon simple equilibrium interactions among the enzyme species, nucleotides, and inhibitor has been developed which quantitatively accounts for the observed effects of salt. In this model, the formation of the active complex between Av1 and Av2 is abolished by salts. Likewise, the apparent affinity of Av2 for MgATP is reduced. An additional prediction based upon the model is that the affinity between Av2 and Av1 is independent of nucleotide binding.

Chelation of Fe from the Fe-protein component (Av2) of Azotobacter vinelandii nitrogenase has been investigated. The chelation, which requires MgATP binding by Av2, is best described as a two-exponential process. The rates for the two phases differed by approximately 10-fold and increased as the concentration of MgATP was increased. The rates for both phases were 50% of maximum at approximately 1.5 mM MgATP. At MgATP concentrations greater than 100 microM, the more rapid phase represented approximately 25% of the total Fe chelated from Av2. However, below 100 microM MgATP, the proportion of the faster phase decreased until at 20 microM MgATP, only a single phase could be detected. The properties of Av2 were studied at various stages of Fe chelation. The partially chelated protein was isolated from the reaction by gel filtration and was subjected to a second MgATP-dependent Fe chelation. Material isolated after the completion of the first phase regained biphasic kinetics in subsequent chelation reactions. However, if MgATP was present during the isolation of Av2, then only a single phase was observed in the subsequent chelation studies. In addition, the enzymatic activity of Av2 decreased concomitantly with total Fe chelation. To account for these observations, a model is presented in which Av2 exists in two conformers. Fe chelation is proposed to occur from either conformer but only when two MgATP are bound. Both conformers bind MgATP with the same affinity but are distinguished by a 10-fold difference in chelation rate. The two conformers are in equilibrium and can interconvert only in the absence of MgATP. That is, MgATP binding prevents the conversion of the two conformational states.

Two fluorescent derivatives of 2'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine 5'-p-aminophenyl phosphate were prepared by treatment of this compound with fluorescein isothiocyanate in dimethyl sulfoxide or 5-(dimethylamino)naphthalene sulfonyl chloride in pyridine. The products of the reactions were isolated by diethylaminoethylcellulose chromatography and were shown to be homogeneous by polyacrylamide electrophoresis and TLC. Confirmation of the structure was provided by elemental analysis, absorption and fluorescence spectra, PMR measurements, and liberation of nucleotide upon hydrolysis with snake venom phosphodiesterase. The fluorescent derivatives are good competitive inhibitors (Ki approximately10(-6) M) of thymidylate synthetase from a methotrexate-resistant strain of Lactobacillus casei.

The ovoperoxidase-catalyzed oxidation of iodide has been investigated as a function of pH for the homogeneous enzyme and for ovoperoxidase incorporated into several forms of the egg fertilization membrane. The pH dependent hysteresis previously observed in purified ovoperoxidase (Deits, T. L., Shapiro, B. M. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 7882-7888) is entirely absent in ovoperoxidase incorporated into the mature fertilization membrane, where the enzyme is bound noncovalently in vivo. The pH activity profile of ovoperoxidase incorporated into the mature fertilization membrane closely resembles the profile observed only transiently in purified ovoperoxidase subjected to a rapid downward pH shift. These observations can be accounted for by our previously presented mechanism for ovoperoxidase hysteresis (ibid.). We hypothesize that ovoperoxidase, upon incorporation into the fertilization membrane, is restricted to a limited subset of the conformational states available to the purified enzyme. This matrix-dependent conformational restriction is a novel control mechanism that serves to enhance the catalytic activity of ovoperoxidase upon its assembly into the fertilization membrane and thereby modulates ovoperoxidase catalysis in the vicinity of the developing egg.