Vanadate: A potent inhibitor of multifunctional glucose-6-phosphatase

Vanadate has been found to be a potent inhibitor of both the hydrolytic and synthetic activities of the multi- functional enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase (d-glucose-6-phosphatase phosphohydrolase, EC 3.1.3.9). The enzyme, when studied in both microsomal preparations and in situ using permeable isolated hepatocytes, is inhibited by micromolar concentrations of vanadate. The inhibition by vanadate is greater in detergent-treated than in untreated microsomes. In both the microsomal preparations and permeable hepatocytes, the inhibition by vanadate is competitive with the phosphate substrate and is greater for the phosphotransferase than the hydrolase activity of the enzyme. The K_I values of vanadate for carbamyl-phosphate : glucose phosphotransferase and glucose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase determined with permeable hepatocytes are in good agreement with the values determined with detergent-dispersed microsomes. The previously described inhibition of glucose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase by ATP (Nordlie, R.C., Hanson, T.L., Johns, P.T. and Lygre, D.G. (1968) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 60, 590–597) can now be explained by the vanadium contamination of the commercially available ATP samples used. In contrast with glucose-6-phosphatase, hepatic glucokinase and hexokinase were not inhibited by vanadate. Physiological implications and utilitarian experimental applicability of vanadate as a selective metabolic probe, based on these observations, are suggested.     

N,N-dibenzyl-N'-benzylidenehydrazines: potent competitive glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic enzyme inhibitors

A novel class of N,N-dibenzyl-N'-benzylidenehydrazines as potent and competitive glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic site inhibitors are described. Optimisation of this series identified compounds with IC(50) values as low as 170 nM.     

Stimulation by polyamines of carbamylphosphate:glucose phosphotransferase and glucose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase activities of multifunctional glucose-6-phosphatase.

The effects of added polyamines on carbamylphosphate (carbamyl-P):glucose phosphotransferase and glucose-6-phosphate (Glc-6-P) phosphohydrolase activities of rat hepatic D-Glc-6-P phosphohydrolase (EC 3.1.3.9) of intact and detergent-treated microsomes have been investigated. With the former preparation, in the presence of 1.4 mM phosphate substrate and 90 mM D-glucose (phosphotransferase), 1 mM spermine, spermidine, and putrescine activated Glc-6-P phosphohydrolase 67%, 57%, and 35%, respectively. Carbamyl-P:glucose phosphotransferase, under comparable conditions, was activated 57%, 34%, and 18%. NH+4 (0.25--5.0 mM) produced at best but a minor activation (0--14%), while poly(L-lysine) (Mr = 3400; degree of polymerization 16) equimolar relative to other polyamines with respect to ionized free amino groups activated the hydrolase 358% and the transferase 222%. Treatment of microsomes with the detergent deoxycholate reduced, but did not abolish, polyamine-induced activation. The stimulatory effects of polyamines persisted in the presence of excess catalase, indicating their independence from H2O2 formation; and were eliminated in the presence of Ca2+. Kinetic analysis revealed that all tested polyamines decreased the apparent Michaelis constant values for carbamyl-P and Glc-6-P, but had no effect on the Km for glucose. Poly(L-lysine) increased the V value for both Glc-6-P phosphohydrolase and apparent V values for phosphotransferase extrapolated to infinite concentrations of either carbamyl-P or glucose. The other tested polyamines elevated only this last velocity parameter. It is proposed that a major mechanism by which polyamines activate glucose-6-phosphatase-phosphotransferase is through their electrostatic interactions with phospholipids of the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum of which this enzyme is a part. Conformational alterations thus induced may in turn affect catalytic behavior. It is suggested that polyamines, or similar positively charged peptides, might participate in the cellular regulation of synthetic and hydrolytic activities of glucose-6-phosphatase.     

Aurinetricarboxylic acid: a potent inhibitor of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.

Inhibition by aurinetricarboxylic acid (ATA) of glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) dehydrogenase was "competitive" with respect to G6P and "mixed type" with respect to NADP+. Inhibited enzyme bound two molecules of ATA. Kinetic constants, Km, Ki at varying pH suggested possible binding of the inhibitor by the sulfhydryl of the enzyme; of the several enzymes tested only milk xanthine oxidase and G6P dehydrogenase from bovine adrenal was inhibited by ATA.     

Molecular pathology of glucose-6-phosphatase

It was known in the 1950s that hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase plays an important role in the regulation of blood glucose levels. All attempts since then to purify a single polypeptide with glucose-6-phosphatase activity have failed. Until recently, virtually nothing was known about the molecular basis of glucose-6-phosphatase or its regulation. Recent studies of the type 1 glycogen storage diseases, which are human genetic deficiencies that result in impaired glucose-6-phosphatase activity, have greatly increased our understanding of glucose-6-phosphatase. Glucose-6-phosphatase has been shown to comprise at least five different polypeptides, the catalytic subunit of glucose-6-phosphatase with its active site situated in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum; a regulatory Ca2+ binding protein; and three transport proteins, T1, T2, and T3, which respectively allow glucose-6-phosphate, phosphate, and glucose to cross the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Purified glucose-6-phosphatase proteins, immunospecific antibodies, and improved assay techniques have led to the diagnosis of a variety of new type 1 glycogen storage diseases. Recent studies of the type 1 glycogen storage diseases have led to a much greater understanding of the role and regulation of each of the glucose-6-phosphatase proteins.     

Multifunctional glucose-6-phosphatase: cellular biology.

Glucose-6-phosphatase is a multifunctional enzyme, displaying potent ability to synthesize as well as hydrolyze Glc-6-P. These multifunctional characteristics have been exploited in studies of the extended distribution of the enzyme, and their physiological significance has been examined. The enzyme is considerably more widely distributed than previously suspected. It has been found in pancreas, adrenals, lung, testes, spleen, and brain as well as in liver, kidney, and mucosa of small intestine. Approximately 15–20% of total hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase-phosphotransferase is present in nuclear membrane, 75–80% is found in endoplasmic reticulum, and small amounts have been detected also in plasma membrane and repeatedly-washed mitochondria. Both hydrolytic and synthetic functions, in constant proportions, have been found in livers of 21 species of birds, amphibia, reptiles, crustacea, fishes, and mammals (including man) studied. With 5 mM phosphoryl donor and 100 mM D-glucose as substrates, carbamyl-P:glucose phosphotransferase activity of glucose-6-phosphatase exceeded that of glucokinase by 5–50 fold. While latencies of activities of isolated microsomal preparations are extensive, those of nuclear membranes are not. Latencies of activities of intact endoplasmic reticulum of permeable hepatocytes are 28% for Glc-6-P phosphohydrolase and 56% for carbamyl-P:glucose phosphotransferase. Studies with isolated perfused livers from fasted rats suggest rather convincingly that such phosphotransferase activities may function as an hepatic glucose-phosphorylating system supplemental to glucokinase and hexokinase. This conclusion is based both on comparisons of rates of glucose uptake with hepatic enzyme levels (glucokinase, hexokinase, phosphotransferase), and on observed inhibitibility of glucose uptake by ornithine and 3-0-methyl-D-glucose. The question of availability of adequate concentrations of suitable phosphoryl donor(s) in cytosol of the liver cell constitutes a principal focus for continuing studies regarding physiological functions of this enzyme.     

The mechanism of histone activation of the hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase system: a novel method to assay glucose-6-phosphatase activity

The mechanism of activation of hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.9) by histone 2A has been investigated in both intact and disrupted microsomes. Histone 2A increased the Vmax and decreased the Km of glucose-6-phosphatase in intact microsomes but had no effect on glucose-6-phosphatase activity in disrupted microsomes. Histone 2A was shown to activate glucose-6-phosphatase in intact microsomes by disrupting the membrane vesicles and thereby allowing the direct measurement of the activity of the latent glucose-6-phosphatase enzyme. The study demonstrated that disrupting microsomes with histone 2A is an excellent method for directly assaying glucose-6-phosphatase activity as it poses none of the problems encountered with all of the previously used methods.     

Radiation sensitivity of membrane-bound glucose-6-phosphatase

A comparative study was made of the effect of X-radiation on the membrane-bound glucoso-6-phosphatase of the nuclear membrane and microsomal fraction of calf thymus cells. Dose- and concentration-dependencies of inactivation of glucoso-6-phosphatase are indicative of a higher radiosensitivity of glucoso-6-phosphatase of nuclear membranes than that of microsomes. This difference in radiosensitivity is associated with the peculiarities of the composition and structural organization of these two membrane systems of a cell.     

Thermal stability of microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase

The thermal stability of glucose-6-phosphatase in rat liver microsomes was examined in untreated and cholate-treated microsomes. Activity of the enzyme was measured with both glucose-6-P and mannose-6-P as substrates. Heat treatment did not cause glucose-6-phosphatase activity to decline to zero with a single rate constant in untreated microsomes. Instead, heat treatment produced an enzyme with a small residual activity that was stable. The residual level of activity was not stimulated by addition of detergent. In untreated microsomes the energies of activation for the processes of decay were different for glucose-6-phosphatase and mannose-6-phosphatase activities, suggesting that the rate-limiting steps for the hydrolysis of these compounds were different. Treatment of microsomes with detergent increased the rate constants for the thermal decay of glucose-6-phosphatase by about 150 times, and, in contrast to untreated microsomes, glucose-6-phosphatase and mannose-6-phosphatase decayed to zero with a single rate constant in cholate-treated microsomes. Also, rate constants for thermal inactivation of glucose-6-phosphatase and mannose-6-phosphatase were the same in cholate-treated microsomes. Removal of cholate increased the stability of glucose-6-phosphatase but did not regenerate the form of the enzyme present in untreated microsomes. The data for the stability of glucose-6-phosphatase under different conditions provide evidence that the enzyme can exist in at least five different stable states that are enzymatically active.     

Differential effects of Mg2+ on various hydrolytic and synthetic activities of multifunctional glucose-6-phosphatase

The adaptive synthesis of fatty acid synthetase in the livers of rats fed a fat-free diet following 48 hr of fasting has been studied using immunochemical methods. The development of fatty acid synthetase activity during adaptive synthesis occurs about 3 hr following feeding, whereas the synthesis of material precipitable by anti-fatty acid synthetase serum, as judged by the incorporation of ³H-labeled amino acids into the immunoprecipitate, commenced within 1 hr. Extracts of liver of rats fed a fat-free diet for 1–3 hr following fasting contain increasing amounts of material which competes with purified fatty acid synthetase for antibody binding sites, even though they have no fatty acid synthetase activity. This suggests the presence of enzymatically inactive precursors of fatty acid synthetase in the liver extracts. The incorporation of [¹⁴C]pantothenate into fatty acid synthetase during adaptive synthesis follows the same pattern as the development of enzyme activity, indicating that these enzymatically inactive precursors of fatty acid synthetase may represent an apoenzyme which is converted to the enzymatically active holoenzyme by the incorporation of the 4′-phosphopantetheine prosthetic group. The subcellular site of synthesis of fatty acid synthetase was shown to be in the pool of polysomes that are not membrane bound, rather than in the rough endoplasmic reticulum.     

Monkey liver microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase]

Kinetic studies indicate that glucose-6-phosphatase is a multifunctional enzyme. a) Phosphohydrolase activities. The mannose-6-phosphatase activity is low (Km = 8 mM, VM = 90 nmoles. min-1mg-1). The enzyme shows a strong affinity for glucose-6-phosphate (Km = 2.5 mM, VM = 220 nmoles.min-1mg-1). beta-glycerophosphate (K1 = 30 mM), D-glucose (Ki = 120 mM) are mixed type inhibitors; pyrophosphate (Ki = 2 mM) is a non competitive one. b) Phosphotransferase activities. Di and triphosphate adenylic nucleosides or phosphoenol pyruvate are not substrates. Carbamylphosphate serves as a phosphoryl donor with D-glucose as acceptor. The phosphate transfer is consisstent with a random mechanism in which the binding of one substrate increases the enzymes affinity for the second substrate. Apparent Km values for carbamyl-phosphate range from 5.2 mM (D-glucose concentration leads to infinity) to 8 mM (D-glucose concentration leads to 0). The corresponding apparent Km values for D-glucose are 59 mM (carbamyl-phosphate concentration leads to infinity) to 119 mM (carbamyl-phosphate concentration leads to 0). Maximal reaction velocity with infinite levels of both substrates is 270 nmoles.min-1.mg-1. Pyrophosphate is a poor phosphoryl donnor (Km = 55 mM with D-glucose concentration 250 mM). In addition we do not find any latency; detergents, namely sodium deoxycholate, Triton X 100 do not affect or inhibit glucose-6-phosphatase activity.