Temperature-jump studies on benzeneboronic acid-serine protease interactions. Subtilisin and alpha-chymotrypsin.

The interactions of benzeneboronic acid (BBA) as a transition state analog with subtilisin (EC 3.4.21.4) and with alpha-chymotrypsin (EC 3.4.21.1) were investigated kinetically by the temperature-jump method using pH indicators. For both enzymes, the concentration dependence of the relaxation time was consistent with a two-step mechanism involving a fast bimolecular association followed by a slow, unimolecular process. The possibility of a trigonal-tetrahedral interconversion of BBA at the active site of the enzyme is discussed.     

Potentiometric studies on benzeneboronic acid-alpha-chymotrypsin interactions.

When the competitive inhibitor benzeneboronic acid (BBA) forms a complex with alpha-chymotrypsin [EC 3.4.21.1] protons are released in the acidic pH region. The proton release can be measured by a difference potentiometric technique. The proton release is also observed in chymotrypsinogen A but not in TRCK-, DIP-, and anhydrochymotrypsins. Based on these observations, a simple procedure to estimate the equilibrium constants of the trigonal-tetrahedral interconversion of BBA is proposed. Thermodynamic parameters of the ionization of His 57 and of each step involved in BBA binding can be estimated from the temperature dependence of the proton release. Those of His 57 are essentially the same as those of imidazole in water. Regarding the interconversion of BBA on the enzyme, the value of delta S is similar to delta S not equal to of the deacylation step of nonspecific substrates, and delta H is remarkably reduced from that for the ionization of BBA in water. The enthalpic gain of enzymic process is suggested to be due to the change of the proton acceptor, which is water in the case of the ionization of BBA in water, to imidazole on the enzyme.     

Interaction of Asp. melleus Semi-alkaline protease with benzeneboronic acid.

Benzeneboronic acid (BBA), a possible transition-state analog for serine proteases, was found to inhibit Asp. melleus semi-alkaline protease [EC 3.4.21.15]. The pH dependence of inhibitor constants was studied by the pH-stat method using N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester as a substrate at 25 degrees C. From the pH dependence of the association constant (reciprocal inhibitor constant), a pK value of 6.6, which may be attributable to the catalytic histidine residue of the enzyme, was estimated. The BBA-enzyme interaction was studied kinetically by the temperature-jump method. Apparent association and dissociation rate constants were determined at pH 6.5.     

Temperature-jump studies on formate binding to methemoglobin and metmyoglobin.

The binding of formate ion to sperm whale metmyoglobin after a temperature-jump is monophasic and not affected by organic phosphate; the Hill coefficient obtained from equilibrium measurements is unity, and there is internal consistency between equilibrium and kinetic results. Formate binding to stripped human methemoglobin, on the other hand, is biphasic. The two relaxation phases can be attributed, on the basis of their equal relaxation amplitudes, to the different kinetic properties of both types of chains. Equilibrium measurements yield a single binding constant. Thus, formate belongs to the class of high-spin ligands which show no binding specificity but strong kinetic heterogeneity for α- and β-chains. There is, however, a lack of consistency between equilibrium and kinetic results, indicating that a reaction scheme which considers only ligand binding to α- and β-chains appears not to be fully adequate. Organic phosphates exert a drastic influence on the kinetics but not on the thermodynamics of ligand binding. In the presence of inositol hexaphosphate the relaxation spectrum is characterized by more than two relaxation processes: A very fast phase—about an order of magnitude faster than the fast process in stripped methemoglobin—appears with high amplitude. The slow relaxation process, however, is only slightly affected. The binding constant of formate obtained from equilibrium measurements is only little changed and the Hill coefficient is 0.97 both in the presence and absence of the phosphate. The phosphate-induced kinetic changes indicate that functionally significant structural changes are introduced in the tertiary structure of one type of chains, presumably the β-chains, to which inositol hexaphosphate is bound.     

Temperature-jump studies of microtubule dynamic instability

Evidence for a slowly dissociating tubulin-GTP cap at microtubule ends was derived from observation of a delay for attaining a maximum disassembly rate, after the temperature of steady state microtubules was rapidly decreased from 36 to 34 degrees C. The possibility that the microtubules were capped by a single tubulin-GTP subunit on each subhelix was ruled out, by comparison of the disassembly kinetics following a temperature decrease and dilution. The existence of a subpopulation of microtubules that underwent irreversible or near irreversible disassembly was demonstrated by a 30-s lag for attainment of a maximum assembly rate, after steady state microtubules were shifted from 34 to 36 degrees C. A dynamic instability model predicts that a maximum assembly rate will be delayed until disappearance of a subpopulation of microtubules that disassemble before being recapped. Analysis indicates that the 30-s lag resulted because approximately 2% of the mass in the steady state microtubule population was uncapped and disassembling and not readily recapped. The half-time for recapping of disassembling microtubules, by addition of tubulin-GTP subunits to ends, was equal to or greater than 20 s. Since tubulin-GDP dissociated from microtubules at a rate of about 4500 s-1, slow recapping resulted in dramatic shortening of disassembling microtubules.     

Sedimentation studies on the interaction of proflavine with deoxyribonucleic acid

A method is described of using photography to measure the concentrations of a small ligand (proflavine) above and below the boundary of a macromolecule (DNA, both native and denatured) sedimenting in the ultracentrifuge. The measurements are used to determine the extent of the binding of proflavine to DNA, and the results compared with those obtained by a spectrophotometric method. The results obtained by the two methods agree within 10%, thus validating the spectrophotometric technique under these conditions. The variation of the sedimentation coefficient with the extent of binding of proflavine was also studied. The results are discussed in relation to previously observed changes in the viscosity of the solutions.     

Temperature-jump studies and polarized absorption spectroscopy of methemoglobin-thiocyanate single crystals.

Association equilibria and association kinetics of the thiocyanate binding reaction to methemoglobin in single crystals and solution are studied using temperature-jump technique and polarized absorption spectroscopy. Different kinetic constants are found for the reaction in solution and crystal phase for the alpha- and beta-subunits of the methemoglobin tetramer. The reduction of the reactivity of the alpha- and beta-subunits in crystalline phase is 6-fold and 2.4-fold, respectively, compared to the values found in solution. The intramolecular binding reaction of the N epsilon of the distal histidine E7 which is observed in methemoglobin in solution cannot be detected in single crystals. Our results suggest that crystallization of hemoglobin has little influence on small-scale structural fluctuations which are necessary for ligands to get to the binding sites and large-scale structural motions are suppressed.     

Substituent effect on the elementary processes of the interaction between several benzeneboronic acids and substilisin BPN

Benzeneboronic acid, a transition-state analog for serine proteases, binds to the catalytic center of subtilisin BPN'. The binding mechanism is so-called two-step mechanism; the initial fast association followed by a slow unimolecular process (Nakatani, H., Uehara, Y. and Hiromi, K. (1975) J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 77, 615--616), E + S fast equilibrium ES slow equilibrium ES (E = subtilisin, S = benzenebroonic acid). The structure of the transient complex (ES) at the initial association process was manifested by the substituent effect of benzeneboronic acid on the rate parameters in the elementary processes. The study by the temperature-junp and stopped-flow methods showed that the boron atom in benzeneboronic acid strongly interacts with a nucleophilic site, probably, O gamma of Ser-221 or imidazole of His-64 at the catalytic center, already at the initial fast association.     

Bovine beta-lactoglobulin: interaction studies with palmitic acid

Bovine beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) in vivo has been found complexed with fatty acids, especially palmitic and oleic acid. To elucidate the still unknown structure-function relationship in this protein, the interactions between 13C enriched palmitic acid (PA) and BLG were investigated by means of one-, two-, and three-dimensional NMR spectroscopy in the pH range 8.4-2.1. The NMR spectra revealed that at neutral pH the ligand is bound within the central cavity of BLG, with the methyl end deeply buried within the protein. The analysis of 13C spectra of the holo protein revealed the presence of conformational variability of bound PA carboxyl end in the pH range 8.4-5.9, related to the Tanford transition. The release of PA starts at pH lower than 6.0, and it is nearly complete at acidic pH. This finding is relevant in relation to the widely reported hypothesis that this protein can act as a transporter through the acidic gastric tract. Ligand binding and release is shown to be completely reversible over the entire pH range examined, differently from other fatty acid binding proteins whose behavior is analyzed throughout the paper. The mode of interaction of BLG is compatible with the proposed function of facilitating the digestion of milk fat during the neonatal period of calves.     

Interaction of benzeneboronic anhydride with vicinal amino-alcohols

Mass spectrometry has revealed that a vicinal cis-amino-alcohol grouping in methyl amino-4-6-O-benzylidene-deoxy-α-D-aldopyranosides forms, on treatment with benzeneboronic anhydride, a 2-phenyl-1,3,2-oxazaborolidine ring, whereas the corresponding trans-grouping forms a 2,4-diphenyl-1,3,5-dioxaza-2,4-diborepine ring. The conformations of the pyranoid ring in the derivatives thus formed are discussed.