Mechanistic aspects of the low-molecular-weight phosphatase activity of the calmodulin-activated phosphatase, calcineurin

Product and substrate analogs have been employed as inhibitors of the low-molecular-weight phosphatase activity of calcineurin, a calmodulin-activated protein phosphatase. Product inhibition kinetics demonstrate that both products, para-nitrophenol and inorganic phosphate, inhibit para-nitrophenyl phosphate hydrolysis in a competitive manner. Inorganic phosphate is a linear competitive inhibitor, whereas the inhibition by para-nitrophenol is more complex. An analog of para-nitrophenol, pentafluorophenol, was found to be a linear competitive inhibitor. These patterns indicate a rapid equilibrium random kinetic mechanism for calcineurin. This mechanism suggests that calcineurin does not generate a phosphoryl enzyme during its catalytic reaction. Application of sulfate analogs indicates that binding of substrate occurs via the phosphoryl moiety. It is suggested that binding is a function of the affinity of ligand for the metal ion involved in calcineurin action. The dependence of the kinetic parameters of calcineurin upon pH was examined to provide information concerning the role of protonation in the activity and specificity of calcineurin. Log (VM) versus pH data for two low-molecular-weight substrates, para-nitrophenyl phosphate and tyrosine-O-phosphate, reveal a pKa value for the enzyme-substrate complex. Analysis of log (VM/KM) data yields a pKa value for the free enzyme of 8.0. Protonation of the phenolic leaving group during hydrolysis is not the rate-limiting step in calcineurin catalysis.