Allosteric regulation of rat testis mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase by capronaldehyde and magnesium ion.

1. The influence of Mg2+ on the kinetic behaviour of mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase from rat testis has been investigated using capronaldehyde as substrate. 2. The kinetic data, obtained by numerical analysis of the progress curves of aldehyde oxidation, were fitted to a modified version of the Monod-Wyman-Changeux model and the fitting procedure resulted in a good correspondence between theoretical and experimental reaction rates over a wide range of capronaldehyde and Mg2+ concentrations. 3. According to the model, the tetrameric enzyme is in equilibrium between two conformational states R and T which display comparable affinities for capronaldehyde (the dissociation constants are 0.17 and 0.3 microM, respectively), but different catalytic power (VT = 2VR). The T state can bind with lower affinity a second molecule of aldehyde (K = 2.5 microM). 4. Mg2+ stabilizes the T state (the dissociation constants for the R and T states are 2.2 and 0.12 mM, respectively) and acts as a strong activator of the R state, but as a weak inhibitor of the T state. In the absence of substrates and Mg2+, the R<-->T equilibrium favors the R state ([T]/[R] = 0.16). 5. The model is able to predict the kinetic behaviour also when the NAD+ concentrations are not saturating and when inhibitory effects by NADH are taken into account.     

Structural and functional dynamics of an integral membrane protein complex modulated by lipid headgroup charge

We have used membrane surface charge to modulate the structural dynamics of an integral membrane protein, phospholamban (PLB), and thereby its functional inhibition of the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca-ATPase (SERCA). It was previously shown by electron paramagnetic resonance, in vesicles of neutral lipids, that the PLB cytoplasmic domain is in equilibrium between an ordered T state and a dynamically disordered R state and that phosphorylation of PLB increases the R state and relieves SERCA inhibition, suggesting that R is less inhibitory. Here, we sought to control the T/R equilibrium by an alternative means-varying the lipid headgroup charge, thus perturbing the electrostatic interaction of PLB's cationic cytoplasmic domain with the membrane surface. We resolved the T and R states not only by electron paramagnetic resonance in the absence of SERCA but also by time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer from SERCA to PLB, thus probing directly the SERCA-PLB complex. Compared to neutral lipids, anionic lipids increased both the T population and SERCA inhibition, while cationic lipids had the opposite effects. In contrast to conventional models, decreased inhibition was not accompanied by decreased binding. We conclude that PLB binds to SERCA in two distinct structural states of the cytoplasmic domain: an inhibitory T state that interacts strongly with the membrane surface and a less inhibitory R state that interacts more strongly with the anionic SERCA cytoplasmic domain. Modulating membrane surface charge provides an effective way of investigating the correlation between structural dynamics and function of integral membrane proteins.     

Determinants of substrate specificity in omega-aminotransferases

Ornithine aminotransferase and 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferase are related pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzymes having different substrate specificities. The atomic structures of these enzymes have shown (i) that active site differences are limited to the steric positions occupied by two tyrosine residues in ornithine aminotransferase and (ii) that, uniquely among related, structurally characterized aminotransferases, the conserved arginine that binds the alpha-carboxylate of alpha-amino acids interacts tightly with a glutamate residue. To determine the contribution of these residues to the specificities of the enzymes, we analyzed site-directed mutants of ornithine aminotransferase by rapid reaction kinetics, x-ray crystallography, and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Mutation of one tyrosine (Tyr-85) to isoleucine, as found in aminobutyrate aminotransferase, decreased the rate of the reaction of the enzyme with ornithine 1000-fold and increased that with 4-aminobutyrate 16-fold, indicating that Tyr-85 is a major determinant of specificity toward ornithine. Unexpectedly, the limiting rate of the second half of the reaction, conversion of ketoglutarate to glutamate, was greatly increased, although the kinetics of the reverse reaction were unaffected. A mutant in which the glutamate (Glu-235) that interacts with the conserved arginine was replaced by alanine retained its regiospecificity for the delta-amino group of ornithine, but the glutamate reaction was enhanced 650-fold, whereas only a 5-fold enhancement of the ketoglutarate reaction rate resulted. A model is proposed in which conversion of the enzyme to its pyridoxamine phosphate form disrupts the internal glutamate-arginine interaction, thus enabling ketoglutarate but not glutamate to be a good substrate.     

A Highly Conserved Cysteine of Neuronal Calcium-sensing Proteins Controls Cooperative Binding of Ca2+ to Recoverin

Recoverin, a 23-kDa Ca²⁺-binding protein of the neuronal calcium sensing (NCS) family, inhibits rhodopsin kinase, a Ser/Thr kinase responsible for termination of photoactivated rhodopsin in rod photoreceptor cells. Recoverin has two functional EF hands and a myristoylated N terminus. The myristoyl chain imparts cooperativity to the Ca²⁺-binding sites through an allosteric mechanism involving a conformational equilibrium between R and T states of the protein. Ca²⁺ binds preferentially to the R state; the myristoyl chain binds preferentially to the T state. In the absence of myristoylation, the R state predominates, and consequently, binding of Ca²⁺ to the non-myristoylated protein is not cooperative. We show here that a mutation, C39A, of a highly conserved Cys residue among NCS proteins, increases the apparent cooperativity for binding of Ca²⁺ to non-myristoylated recoverin. The binding data can be explained by an effect on the T/R equilibrium to favor the T state without affecting the intrinsic binding constants for the two Ca²⁺ sites.     

Computer modeling of muscle phosphofructokinase kinetics

The kinetics of the phosphofructokinase reaction were studied by computer modeling. A general random order, two-state allosteric model, of which the Monod--Wyman--Changeux model is a limiting case, was found to most accurately reproduce the experimental observations of Pettigrew & Frieden (1979 a,b). A simplified model with Hill coefficients was found to fit almost as well. In these models substrates bind preferentially to and stabilize the enzyme in the R state, and ATPH3-, the inhibitory species, binds preferentially to and stabilizes the enzyme in the T state. Enzymatic activity is regulated by conversion from the R to the T state, which is effected by protonation, especially of the uncomplexed enzyme, but the experimental data are inadequate for accurate estimation of the pKa of the enzyme. Random order binding of substrates is an important cause of sigmoidal kinetics. Additional experiments that would aid in the discrimination among rival models are described.     

A study of the allosteric kinetics of Phycomyces pyruvate kinase as judged by the effect of L-alanine and fructose 1,6-bisphosphate

The influence of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate and L-alanine on the kinetics of pyruvate kinase (ATP:pyruvate O2-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.40) from Phycomyces blakesleeanus NRRL 1555 (-) was studied at pH 7.5. By addition of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate the sigmoid kinetics with respect to phosphoenol pyruvate and Mg2+ were abolished and the velocity curves became hyperbolic. In the presence of L-alanine the positive homotropic cooperativity with respect to phosphoenol pyruvate increased with Hill coefficient values close to 4, while the sigmoid kinetics with respect to Mg2+ became hyperbolic. Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate overcomes the inhibition produced by L-alanine, the antagonism between phosphoenol pyruvate and L-alanine also being evident. Inhibition has been found at high Mg2+ concentrations, compatible with the binding of the magnesium ions to an inactive conformational state of the enzyme. The data were analysed on the basis of the two-states concerted-symmetry model of Monod, Wyman and Changeux, and the parameters of the model were calculated. Phosphoenol pyruvate and fructose 1,6-bisphosphate appeared to show exclusive binding to the active conformational state (R), whereas magnesium ions bind preferentially, by a factor of 45, to the R state. L-Alanine binds more readily to the inactive T state of the enzyme.     

Description of hemoglobin oxygenation under universal solution conditions by a global allostery model with a single adjustable parameter

The Monod-Wyman-Changeux allosteric model parameters evaluated from accurate oxygen equilibrium curves (OECs) of hemoglobin that were measured in an extremely wide range of structural constraints, imposed by allosteric effectors, yielded a closed circle when log K(T) and log K(R) were plotted against log L(0) and log L(4), respectively, showing novel phenomena that L(0) and L(4) have a maximal value and a minimal value, respectively, and K(T) and K(R) vary by more than three orders of magnitude. These phenomena were successfully described by a global allostery model, which mathematically keeps the frame work of the MWC model, but allows that K(T) under a set of solution conditions becomes larger than K(R) under another set of solution conditions and postulates that a representative allosteric effector binds to both the T and R states with a lower affinity but with a larger stoichiometry for the R state than for the T state. Thus, this global model can describe any given OEC measured under universal solution conditions with the single adjustable parameter, the concentration of the representative effector.     

Mutant of Escherichia coli K-12 Defective in the Transport of Basic Amino Acids

Escherichia coli K-12 possesses two active transport systems for arginine, two for ornithine, and two for lysine. In each case there is a low- and a high-affinity transport system. They have been characterized kinetically and by response to competitive inhibition by arginine, lysine, ornithine and other structurally related amino acids. Competitors inhibit the high-affinity systems of the three amino acids, whereas the low-affinity systems are not inhibited. On the basis of kinetic evidence and competition studies, it is concluded that there is a common high-affinity transport system for arginine, ornithine, and lysine, and three low-affinity specific ones. Repression studies have shown that arginine and ornithine repress each other's specific transport systems in addition to the repression of their own specific systems, whereas lysine represses its own specific transport system. The common transport system was found to be repressible only by lysine. A mutant was studied in which the uptake of arginine, ornithine, and lysine is reduced. The mutation was found to affect both the common and the specific transport systems.     

Kinetic analysis and modelling of the allosteric behaviour of liver and muscle glycogen phosphorylases

Allosteric enzymes have very complex kinetic behaviours which are primarily interpreted through simplified models. To describe the functional properties of liver and muscle glycogen phosphorylase isozymes we have developed an experimental strategy based on the measurements of initial reaction rates in the presence of different concentrations of the effectors glucose-1-phosphate and methyl-xanthines. Using the extensive structural information available for the two glycogen phosphorylase conformers T (inactive) and R (active) with different ligands, we have applied the Monod-Wyman-Changeux model and analysed the results in the context of the exclusive binding of the inhibitors to the T state, meanwhile the substrate glucose-1-phosphate binds to both, the R and T states. The kinetic analysis shows a good agreement between our model and the results obtained from the glycogen phosphorylases and inhibitors included in this study, which demonstrates the validity of the approach described here.     

Regulation by progesterone and pregnenolone of dimeric aldehyde dehydrogenase from rat testis cytoplasm

• 1.1. Aldehyde dehydrogenase from rat testis cytosol has been purified to electrophoretic homogeneity. With an isoelectric point of 9.5, the enzyme appears a dimer with a subunit molecular weight of 52,500.
• 2.2. The influence of pregnenolone and progesterone on the kinetic behaviour has been investigated using valeraldehyde as substrate.
• 3.3. The kinetic data were fitted to a modified version of the Monod-Wyman-Changeux model and the fitting procedure resulted in a good correspondence between theoretical and experimental reaction rates over a wide range of valeraldehyde concentrations.
• 4.4. According to the model, the dimeric enzyme is in equilibrium between two confonnational states R and T. The R state displays higher affinity for valeraldehyde, but lower catalytic power. In the absence of substrates and effectors the [T]/[R] ratio is near to 1.
• 5.5. Pregnenolone and progesterone activate the enzyme by stabilizing the more active state T and by increasing the catalytic power of the R state. The increase of activity is counteracted by the inhibition exerted by both steroids on the T state.

     

A mutant of Escherichia coli citrate synthase that affects the allosteric equilibrium.

We describe a mutant of Escherichia coli citrate synthase, CS R319L, in which the arginine residue at position 319 of the sequence has been replaced by leucine. In this mutant, saturation by the substrate acetyl-CoA is changed from sigmoid (Hill parameter = 1.75 +/- 0.2) to hyperbolic (Hill parameter = 1.0 +/- 0.1) and dependence on the activator KCl is greatly reduced. Further mutations at this site and at position 343 (which model building predicts is close enough to allow a side-chain interaction with position 319) are also described. In the wild-type enzyme, the model suggests the possibility of a salt-bridge interaction between Arg-319 (located on the P helix in the small domain) and Glu-343 (in the Q helix in the same domain), but mutation of Glu-343 to Ala (CS E343A) produced a much smaller difference in the kinetic properties than the ARg-319 to Leu mutation did. Small changes in kinetic properties were also obtained with an Arg-319----Glu (CS R319E) mutation. In CS R319L, oxaloacetate, the first substrate to bind, induces an ultraviolet difference spectrum which is obtained with wild-type enzyme only in the presence of KCl. To account for these observations we postulate that wild-type E. coli citrate synthase exists in two conformational states, T and R, which are equilibrium; T state binds NADH, the allosteric inhibitor, while R state binds substrates and can be converted to another substrate-binding state, R', by KCl.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Kinetics of an autocatalytic zymogen reaction in the presence of an inhibitor coupled to a monitoring reaction

A global kinetic analysis of a model consisting of an autocatalytic zymogen-activation process, in which an irreversible inhibitor competes with the zymogen for the active site of the proteinase, and a monitoring coupled reaction, in which the enzyme acts upon one of its substrates, is presented. This analysis is based on the progress curves of any of the two products released in the monitoring reaction. The general solution is applied to an important particular case in which rapid equilibrium conditions prevail. Finally, we suggest a procedure to predict whether the inhibition or activation route dominates in the steady state of the system. These results generalize our previous analysis of simpler mechanisms.     

Control of the ornithine cycle in Neurospora crassa by the mitochondrial membrane.

In Neurospora crassa, the mitochondrial membrane separates ornithine used in arginine biosynthesis from ornithine used in the arginine degradative pathway in the cytosol. Ornithine easily exchanges across the mitochondrial membrane under conditions appropriate for synthesis of the immediate biosynthetic product, citrulline. Neither of the two mitochondrial enzymes required for the ornithine-to-citrulline conversion is feedback inhibitable in vitro. Nevertheless, when arginine is added to cells and cytosolic ornithine increases as arginine degradation begins, the rate of citrulline synthesis drops immediately to about 20% of normal (B. J. Bowman and R. H. Davis, Bacteriol. 130:285-291, 1977). We have studied this phenomenon in citrulline-accumulating strains carrying the arg-1 mutation. Citrulline accumulation is blocked when arginine is added to an arg-1 strain but not to an arg-1 strain carrying a mutation conferring insensitivity of intramitochondrial ornithine synthesis to arginine. Thus, ornithine is evidently unable to enter mitochondria in normal (feedback-sensitive) cells. Other experiments show that cytosolic ornithine enters mitochondria readily except when arginine or other basic amino acids are present at high levels in the cells. We conclude that in N. crassa, the mitochondrial membrane has evolved as a secondary site of feedback inhibition in arginine synthesis and that this prevents a wasteful cycling of catabolic ornithine back through the anabolic pathway. This is compared to the quite different mechanism by which the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae prevents a futile ornithine cycle.     

Channeling of carbamoyl phosphate to the pyrimidine and arginine biosynthetic pathways in the deep sea hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus abyssi

The kinetics of the coupled reactions between carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase (CPSase) and both aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) and ornithine transcarbamoylase (OTCase) from the deep sea hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus abyssi demonstrate the existence of carbamoyl phosphate channeling in both the pyrimidine and arginine biosynthetic pathways. Isotopic dilution experiments and coupled reaction kinetics analyzed within the context of the formalism proposed by Ovádi et al. (Ovádi, J., Tompa, P., Vertessy, B., Orosz, F., Keleti, T., and Welch, G. R. (1989) Biochem. J. 257, 187-190) are consistent with a partial channeling of the intermediate at 37 degrees C, but channeling efficiency increases dramatically at elevated temperatures. There is no preferential partitioning of carbamoyl phosphate between the arginine and pyrimidine biosynthetic pathways. Gel filtration chromatography at high and low temperature and in the presence and absence of substrates did not reveal stable complexes between P. abyssi CPSase and either ATCase or OTCase. Thus, channeling must occur during the dynamic association of coupled enzymes pairs. The interaction of CPSase-ATCase was further demonstrated by the unexpectedly weak inhibition of the coupled reaction by the bisubstrate analog, N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA). The anomalous effect of PALA suggests that, in the coupled reaction, the effective concentration of carbamoyl phosphate in the vicinity of the ATCase active site is 96-fold higher than the concentration in the bulk phase. Channeling probably plays an essential role in protecting this very unstable intermediate of metabolic pathways performing at extreme temperatures.     

Quantifying the allosteric properties of Escherichia coli carbamyl phosphate synthetase: determination of thermodynamic linked-function parameters in an ordered kinetic mechanism.

The effects of the allosteric ligands UMP, IMP, and ornithine on the partial reactions catalyzed by Escherichia coli carbamyl phosphate synthetase have been examined. Both of these reactions, a HCO3(-)-dependent ATP synthesis reaction and a carbamyl phosphate-dependent ATP synthesis reaction, follow bimolecular ordered sequential kinetic mechanisms. In the ATPase reaction, MgATP binds before HCO3- as established previously for the overall reaction catalyzed by carbamyl phosphate synthetase [Raushel, F. M., Anderson, P. M., & Villafranca, J. J. (1978) Biochemistry 17, 5587-5591]. The initial velocity kinetics for the ATP synthesis reaction indicate that MgADP binds before carbamyl phosphate in an equilibrium ordered mechanism except in the presence of ornithine. Determination of true thermodynamic linked-function parameters describing the impact of allosteric ligands on the binding interactions of the first substrate to bind in an ordered mechanism requires experiments to be performed in which both substrates are varied even if only one is apparently affected by the allosteric ligands. In so doing, we have found that IMP has little effect on the overall reaction of either of these two partial reactions. UMP and ornithine, which have a pronounced effect on the apparent Km for MgATP in the overall reaction, both substantially change the thermodynamic dissociation constant for MgADP from the binary E-MgADP complex, Kia, in the ATP synthesis reaction, with UMP increasing Kia 15-fold and ornithine decreasing Kia by 18-fold. By contrast, only UMP substantially affects the Kia for MgATP in the ATPase reaction, increasing it by 5-fold.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Regulation of growth and polyamine biosynthesis of the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila. Effects of L-arginine metabolites and polyamines

Growth of Tetrahymena thermophila in a synthetic nutrient medium with or without the essential amino acid L-arginine was studied in the presence or absence of the arginine metabolites L-citrulline and L-ornithine and the polyamines putrescine, spermidine, and spermine. The effects of the growth conditions on the stimulations of the enzymes of the arginine metabolic and polyamine biosynthetic pathway, arginine deiminase (ADI), citrulline hydrolase (CH), ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), and ornithine-oxo-acid aminotransferase were determined. Tetrahymena cells were unable to grow in the absence of L-arginine and the amino-acid utilization was greatly impaired. None of the metabolites or polyamines was able to substitute for arginine. In the presence of arginine, Tetrahymena cultures grew well and citrulline and ornithine did not alter the growth behaviour in any way. In the presence of putrescine, the lag period was decreased from 3 h to 2 h. Spermidine and spermine acted similar to putrescine but less pronounced. The stimulation of the activity of ADI, the key enzyme of arginine degradation, was absolutely dependent upon the presence of arginine in the medium: in the absence of arginine, the low ADI activity which was present in the cells before inoculation was decreased to zero levels within 30 min. In the presence of arginine, the stimulation of ADI was not altered by citrulline and ornithine but putrescine, spermidine, and spermine decreased ADI-stimulation to half of the control values. The stimulation of CH activity in the presence of arginine was not altered by any added metabolite or polyamine. In the media without arginine, stimulation of CH was greatly reduced, in the presence of ornithine more than in its absence, and even more in the presence of putrescine and spermidine. Stimulation of ODC activity in the presence of arginine was not affected by citrulline and ornithine but in the presence of polyamines it was rapidly decreased to unstimulated levels after an initial ca. 10-fold increase. The "hyperstimulation" of ODC in the absence of free arginine was reduced to normal in the presence of citrulline, the stimulation was decreased even below normal levels in the presence of ornithine and polyamines decreased ODC activity to zero levels. O delta T activity was stimulated more in the presence of arginine than in its absence. In both cases the stimulation was enhanced in the presence of polyamines and only in the absence of arginine--by ornithine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

The theoretical analysis of kinetic behaviour of “hysteretic” allosteric enzymes III. Dissociating and associating enzyme systems in which the rate of installation of equilibrium between the oligomeric forms is comparable to that of enzymatic reaction

The curves of the time (t) dependent product (Pr) accumulation for Monod, Wyman & Changeux model (1965), where the rate of installation of equilibrium between two conformational states of oligomeric enzyme (R T) is comparable to that of enzymatic process, are theoretically analysed. It is assumed that the complexes of R and T forms are in rapid equilibrium with the free components. The character of the effective rate constant of conformational transition R T and the value of τ (where τ is the intercept of the linear part of the kinetic curve of [Pr] versus t with the time axis) versus the substrate concentration is analysed. It is also shown that slow conformational transition R T can be manifested by an unusual shape for Monod et al. model plots of initial velocity of the enzyme reaction v. the substrate concentration (these curves can clearly display expressed inflection points and Hill's cooperativity coefficient less than unity).     

Arginaseless Neurospora: Genetics, Physiology, and Polyamine Synthesis

Four arginaseless mutants of Neurospora crassa have been isolated. All carry mutations which lie at a single locus, aga, on linkage group VIIR. A study of aga strains shows the arginase reaction to be the major, perhaps the only, route of arginine consumption in Neurospora other than protein synthesis. Ornithine-δ-transaminase, the second enzyme of the arginine catabolic pathway, is present and normally inducible by arginine in aga strains, and ornithine transcarbamylase, an enzyme of arginine synthesis, also has normal activity. Arginine inhibits the growth of aga strains. The inhibition can be reversed by spermidine, putrescine (1,4-diaminobutane), or ornithine. The results suggest that ornithine is the major source of the putrescine moiety of polyamines in Neurospora, and that putrescine is an essential growth factor for this organism. The inhibition of aga strains by arginine can be attributed to feedback inhibition of ornithine synthesis by arginine, combined with the complete lack of ornithine normally provided by the arginase reaction.     

Replacement of lysine 234 affects transition state stabilization in the active site of beta-lactamase TEM1

Lysine 234 is a residue highly conserved in all beta-lactamases, except in the carbenicillin-hydrolyzing enzymes, in which it is replaced by an arginine. Informational suppression has been used to create amino acid substitutions at this position in the broad spectrum Escherichia coli beta-lactamase TEM-1, in order to elucidate the role of this residue which lies on the wall at the closed end of the active site cavity. The mutants K234R and K234T were constructed and their kinetic constants measured. Replacement of lysine 234 by arginine yields an enzyme with similar activity toward cephalosporins and most penicillins, except toward the carboxypenicillins for which the presence of the guanidine group enhances the transition state binding. The removal of the basic group in the mutant K234T yields a protein variant which retains a low activity toward penicillins, but losts drastically its ability to hydrolyze cephalosporins. Moreover, these two mutations largely decreased the affinity of the enzyme for penicillins (10-fold for K234R and 50-fold for K234T). This can be correlated with the disruption of the predicted electrostatic binding between the C3 carboxylic group of penicillins and the amine function of the lysine. Therefore, lysine 234 in the E. coli beta-lactamase TEM-1 is involved both in the initial recognition of the substrate and in transition state stabilization.     

Analysis of progress curves. Rate law of pyruvate kinase type I from Escherichia coli.

Progress curves of the reaction catalysed by pyruvate kinase from Escherichia coli K12, designed to cover the four-dimensional concentration space of phosphoenolpyruvate, ADP, Mg2+ and ATP in the regulatory region, were recorded with the pH-stat method (pH 7.0 and 25 degrees C). Additional initial-rate measurement were performed to assess specific points. Two methods for the evaluation of progress curves were used: fitting the rate law to the rates obtained from the tangents of the progress curves and fitting the integrated rate law directly to the curves. Two models, both extensions of the concerted model given by Monod, Wyman & Changeux [(1965) J. Mol. Biol. 12, 88--118] with four protomers, could be fitted to the data within the experimental error. Model discrimination in favour of one of these models was possible by proper experimental design. In the selected model one conformational state of the enzyme forms the active complex. The active site of a second conformational state forms abortive complexes with Mg2+, causing strong inhibition at high Mg2+ concentrations. In the absence of ligands, most of the enzyme is in a third state that binds ATP at an allosteric site.