Carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase. Inhibition by alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate and evidence for separate identity from the pyruvate transporting system of mitochondria

Some of the known inhibitors of pyruvate transport inhibited the activity of carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase. Their order of effectiveness with millimolar concentration required for 50% inhibition given in parentheses, was: Compound UK-5099 (alpha-cyano-beta-(1-phenylindol-3-yl)acrylate) (0.1); alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate (0.17); alpha-cyano-3-hydroxycinnamate (1); alpha-cyanocinnamate (1); alpha-fluorocinnamate (7); transcinnamate (10); p-hydroxycinnamate (10); phenylpyruvate (22); p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate (25). Kinetically, the alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate inhibition was mixed and the p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate inhibition was noncompetitive with respect to external (-)-carnitine. The alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate inhibition was reversible and resulted from its ability to act as a thiol reagent. In general, alpha-cyanocinnamate and its derivatives inhibit carnitine transport at concentrations 100 to 5000 times as high as those known to pyruvate transport. At millimolar concentrations, alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate inhibited the mitochondrial transport of molecules other than carnitine as well as the activity of carnitine acyltransferases. Pyruvate and carnitine did not complete for transport into and out of mitochondria. These results establish that transmitochondrial transport mechanisms for carnitine and pyruvate involve different carriers.     

Bromopyruvate as an active-site-directed inhibitor of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex from Escherichia coli

Bromopyruvate behaves as an active-site-directed inhibitor of the pyruvate decarboxylase (E1) component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli. It requires the cofactor thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP) and acts initially as an inhibitor competitive with pyruvate (Ki ca. 90 microM) but then proceeds to react irreversibly with the enzyme, probably with the thiol group of a cysteine residue. E1 catalyzes the decomposition of bromopyruvate, the enzyme becoming inactivated once every 40-60 turnovers. Bromopyruvate also inactivates the intact pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in a TPP-dependent process, but the inhibition is more rapid and is mechanistically different. Under these conditions, bromopyruvate is decarboxylated, and the lipoic acid residues in the lipoate acetyltransferase (E2) component become reductively bromoacetylated. Further bromopyruvate then reacts with the new thiol groups thus generated in the lipoic acid residues, inactivating the complex. If reaction with the lipoic acid residues is prevented by prior treatment of the complex with N-ethylmaleimide in the presence of pyruvate, the mode of inhibition reverts to irreversible reaction with the E1 component. In both types of inhibition of E1, reaction of 1 mol of bromopyruvate/mol of E1 chain is required for complete inactivation, and all the evidence is consistent with reaction taking place at or near the pyruvate binding site.     

Characterization of the specific pyruvate transport system in Escherichia coli K-12.

A mutant of Escherichia coli K-12 lacking pyruvate dehydrogenase and phosphoenolpyruvate synthase was used to study the transport of pyruvate by whole cells. Uptake of pyruvate was maximal in mid-log phase cells, with a Michaelis constant for transport of 20 microM. Pretreatment of the cells with respiratory chain poisons or uncouplers, except for arsenate, inhibited transport up to 95%. Lactate and alanine were competitive inhibitors, but at nonphysiological concentrations. The synthetic analogs 3-bromopyruvate and pyruvic acid methyl ester inhibited competitively. The uptake of pyruvate was also characterized in membrane vesicles from wild-type E. coli K-12. Transport required an artificial electron donor system, phenazine methosulfate and sodium ascorbate. Pyruvate was concentrated in vesicles 7- to 10-fold over the external concentration, with a Michaelis constant of 15 microM. Energy poisons, except arsenate, inhibited the transport of pyruvate. Synthetic analogs such as 3-bromopyruvate were competitive inhibitors of transport. Lactate initially appeared to be a competitive inhibitor of pyruvate transport in vesicles, but this was a result of oxidation of lactate to pyruvate. The results indicate that uptake of pyruvate in E. coli is via a specific active transport system.     

Accumulation of pyruvate by isolated rat liver mitochondria.

1. Various methods to measure the rate of accumulation of [3-14C]pyruvate in the sucrose-impermeable space of isolated rat liver mitochondria are tested and compared with respect to their ability to distinguish between carrier-linked pyruvate transport and non-carrier-linked processes (adsorption and diffusion). 2. Evidence is presented that the cinnamic acid derivatives commonly used as specific inhibitors of the pyruvate carrier (i) do not completely abolish all carrier-mediated pyruvate transport; (ii) inhibit pyruvate adsorption, and (iii) at higher concentrations lead to a removal of previously accumulated pyruvate from the mitochondria. It is concluded that procedures which avoid the use of transport inhibitors allow more reliable estimates of carrier-linked pyruvate transport. 3. It is proposed to measure pyruvate adsorption as the accumulation of pyruvate in the presence of an uncoupler. Using this procedure, it could be shown that, with 1 mM pyruvate, adsorption represents only a small part of the total pyruvate accumulation, the main part being carrier-linked transport driven by the pH gradient across the mitochondrial inner membrane.     

Identification of cysteine as the reactive group in pyruvate kinase alkylated by 5-chloro-4-oxopentanoic acid.

4-Hydroxypentanoic acid alanine thioether was synthesized and characterized by n.m.r. spectroscopy. This derivative corresponded to the modified amino acid obtained by allowing 5-chloro-4-oxo[3,5-3H]pentanoic acid to react with rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase. Performic acid oxidation of 4-oxo[3,5-3H]pentanoic acid alanine thioether in pyruvate kinase gave [3H]succinate (67%) and [3H]carboxymethylcysteine (33%) as expected. Evidence is presented to show that NaBH4 reduction followed by periodate oxidation and analysis of radioactive formaldehyde production may provide a convenient method for distinguishing between thiol and amino alkylation by halogenomethyl ketone compounds. Peptide 'mapping' confirms that the modification by 5-chloro-4-oxopentanoic acid occurs primarily at one region of pyruvate kinase.     

Nonequivalence of the two subunits of horse erythrocyte glutathione transferase in their reaction with sulfhydryl reagents

Glutathione transferase (EC 2.5.1.18) from horse erythrocytes has been purified and some molecular and kinetic properties have been investigated. It appears to be a dimeric protein composed of subunits of about 23 kDa, indistinguishable either in sodium dodecyl sulfate or in urea electrophoresis. Amino acid composition, substrate specificities, sensitivity to inhibitors, CD spectra, and immunological studies provide evidence that the horse enzyme is related to the pi class transferases. This enzyme has only two reactive thiol groups/dimer whose integrity appears to be essential for the activity. A peculiar feature of these protein thiol groups is that they react nonidentically with a number of thiol blocking reagents, i.e. iodacetamide, bromopyruvate, N-ethylmaleimide, and 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene. Also many disulfides react with one thiol group 5- to 10-fold more rapidly than with the other. The two mixed disulfides so formed also have different rates of reactivation by dithiothreitol. All the structural and kinetic data reported in this paper indicate a nonsymmetrical association of two identical subunits, or alternatively heterodimeric structure with subunits of very similar charge and size.     

The effect of thiol reagents on GABA transport in rat brain synaptosomes

The nature of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transport has been investigated in preparations of rat brain synaptosomes using a number of thiol reagents with varying membrane permeabilities. N-Ethylmaleimide, p-chloromercuribenzoate and p-chloromercuriphenylsulfonate effectively inhibited GABA transport in both directions (i.e., uptake and release) whereas 5,5'-dithiobis-2-nitrobenzoate, mercaptopropionate and N- nitroethylenediamine were much less effective, or ineffective, even at millimolar concentrations. For each of the thiol reagents, the inhibition profile for GABA uptake was approximately the same as that for its release. The effectiveness of the reagents indicates that there is an external, reactable SH-group on the transporter, that the thiol reagent must be somewhat lipophilic for it to react with the SH-group(s), and that the same synaptosomal transport system is responsible for both uptake and release of GABA.     

Functional Characteristics of Pyruvate Transport inPhycomyces blakesleeanus

Jesús A. Marcos, Dolores de Arriaga, Félix Busto, and Joaquín Soler¹1997. Functional Characteristics of Pyruvate Transport inPhycomyces blakesleeanus. Fungal Genetics Biology25, 204-215. A saturable and accumulative transport system for pyruvate has been detected inPhycomyces blakesleeanusNRRL 1555(−) mycelium. It was strongly inhibited by α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate. -Lactate and acetate were competitive inhibitors of pyruvate transport. The initial pyruvate uptake velocity and accumulation ratio was dependent on the external pH. TheV_maxof transport greatly decreased with increasing pH, whereas the affinity of the carrier for pyruvate was not affected. The pyruvate transport system mediated its homologous exchange, which was essentially pH independent, and efflux, which increased with increasing external pH. The uptake of pyruvate was energy dependent and was strongly inhibited by inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation and of the formation of proton gradients. Glucose counteracted the inhibitory effect of the pyruvate transport produced by inhibitors of mitochondrial ATP synthesis. Our results are consistent with a pyruvate/proton cotransport inP. blakesleeanusprobably driven by an electrochemical gradient of H⁺generated by a plasma membrane H⁺-ATPase.     

A hydrophobic domain in glutamate transporters forms an extracellular helix associated with the permeation pathway for substrates

Recent work has shown that cysteine residues introduced into domain 10, a highly hydrophobic segment in the excitatory amino acid transporter 1, react readily when hydrophilic sulfhydryl-modifying reagents are applied extracellularly. To investigate the functional contributions of this region, we mutated each residue in domain 10 (Ala(446)-Gly(459)) to cysteine and assessed the transport kinetics and inhibitor sensitivities of the mutant carriers. Modification of the introduced sulfhydryl group with membrane-impermeant methanethiosulfonate derivatives inhibited substrate transport by all but one functional cysteine mutant. Substrates and/or non-transported inhibitors block thiol modification of most mutants within this region, implying that access to the domain becomes restricted as a consequence of the binding of substrates and substrate analogs. An examination of the temperature dependence of substrate protection for one mutant (I453C) indicates that substrates prevent modification at a step prior to the large conformational changes associated with translocation. When superimposed on a helical model, mutants with similar attributes are positioned in close proximity. Our data are consistent with a model in which domain 10 exists as an alpha-helix at an aqueous interface of the translocation pathway, which can be directly occluded by substrates and inhibitors at an early step in the transport cycle.     

Action of spermine on phosphate transport in liver mitochondria

Spermine, at concentrations similar to those normally present in the cytosol of liver cells, facilitates the transport of phosphate into mitochondria and thus its accumulation within the matrix space. Both mersalyl and N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) inhibit phosphate influx either in the absence or in the presence of spermine. These inhibitors also inhibit, but only partially, the efflux from mitochondria of phosphate generated within the matrix space by the hydrolysis of ATP induced by carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone (FCCP) or the valinomycin-K+ system. The inhibition of phosphate efflux by both mersalyl and NEM is almost completely removed, unlike that of phosphate influx, by spermine. The possibility that spermine may induce phosphate efflux by damaging mitochondrial membranes and consequently inducing an unspecific permeability to phosphate is excluded by the full restoration of transmembrane potential once FCCP has been removed by albumin. Since spermine does not react with either thiol groups or thiol group reagents, the simplest explanation of the reported results is that the pathway of phosphate efflux is distinct from that of phosphate influx.     

Properties of a newly characterized protein of the bovine kidney pyruvate dehydrogenase complex

The dihydrolipoyl transacetylase component, which serves as the structural core of mammalian pyruvate dehydrogenase complexes, is acetylated when treated with either pyruvate or with acetyl-CoA in the presence of NADH. Besides the dihydrolipoyl transacetylase component, we have found that another protein, referred to as protein X, is rapidly acetylated at thiol residues. Protein X remains fully bound to the transacetylase core under conditions that remove the pyruvate dehydrogenase and dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase components. Mapping of 125I-tryptic peptides indicated that the transacetylase subunits and protein X are structurally distinct; however, under the same mapping conditions, there is considerable similarity in the positions of acetylated peptides derived from these subunits. Affinity-purified rabbit immunoglobulin G prepared against the dihydrolipoyl transacetylase core reacted exclusively with the transacetylase and with both its tryptic-derived inner domain and outer lipolyl-bearing domain. Those results further indicate that protein X is not derived from the transacetylase subunit Affinity-purified mouse antibody to protein X reacted selectively with large tryptic polypeptides derived from protein X and did not react with the inner domain of the transacetylase. However, the anti-protein X antibody did react with the intact transacetylase subunit, the lipoyl-bearing domain of the transacetylase, and weakly with the transsuccinylase component of the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex. This cross-reactivity reflected specificity of a portion of the polyclonal antibodies for a related structural region in the transacetylase and protein X (possibly a similar lipoyl-bearing region). Furthermore, a major portion of that polyclonal antibody was shown to react exclusively with protein X. Thus, protein X subunits differ substantially from transacetylase subunits but the two components have a region of structural similarity. We estimate that there are about 5 mol of protein X per mol of the kidney pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. Under a variety of conditions that result in a wide range of levels of acetylation of sites in the complex, about 1 acetyl group is incorporated into protein X per 10 acetyl groups incorporated into the transacetylase subunits per mol of complex. That ratio is close to the ratio of protein X subunits of transacetylase subunits in the complex, indicating that there are efficient mechanisms for acylation and deacylation of protein X.     

The Coupling of the Short-Circuit Current to Metabolism in the Urinary Bladder of the Toad

The relationship of the short-circuit current to metabolism was studied in the toad bladder in vitro. Substrates and inhibitors were added to the bathing medium and the effect on the short-circuit current was determined. The spontaneous decline in the short-circuit current that occurred in substrate-free media was prevented or reversed by the addition of glucose, pyruvate, lactate, or β-hydroxybutyrate, whereas acetate and tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates had no effect. A variety of metabolic inhibitors depressed the short-circuit current; depression by iodoacetate and by malonate was delayed by prior addition of pyruvate or lactate but not by glucose. The ability of a substrate to stimulate the current did not correlate with its rate of oxidation to CO₂. On the basis of earlier studies, the metabolic effects on the short-circuit current were assumed to reflect equivalent effects on the rate of active Na transport. It is suggested that the energy for Na transport is provided not by a general cellular metabolic pool but by a specific metabolic pathway or pathways spatially linked to the transport mechanism.     

The effect of pyruvate transport inhibitors on the regulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase in the perfused rat heart.

The effect of the mitochondrial pyruvate transport inhibitors, α-cyanocinnamate and α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate, on the regulation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex was investigated in the isolated perfused rat heart. Metabolic flux through pyruvate dehydrogenase was monitored by measuring ¹⁴CO₂ production from [1-¹⁴C]pyruvate infused into the heart. A stepwise increase in the concentration of the inhibitor in the influent perfusate effected a stepwise reduction of the flux through the enzyme complex at all pyruvate concentrations tested. However, the magnitude of the α-cyanocinnamate-insensitive flux through pyruvate dehydrogenase increased markedly as the infused pyruvate concentration was elevated. The inhibition of pyruvate decarboxylation in the heart was nearly completely reversed following cessation of the inhibitor infusion. α-Cyanocinnamate was nearly 10 times more potent than α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate as an inhibitor of the flux through pyruvate dehydrogenase. Maximally inhibiting levels of α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate caused an increase in the ratio of the active form of pyruvate dehydrogenase to the total extractable enzyme complex from a value of 0.5 at 1 mm infused pyruvate (in the absence of the inhibitor) to a value of near unity. This result indicated that the intramitochondrial pyruvate concentration was severely depleted by the infusion of the inhibitor and that the enzyme complex was interconverted to its active form under these conditions. Removal of the inhibitor from the perfusion medium again lowered the ratio of the active/total pyruvate dehydrogenase to near its original level of 0.5 and restored the original flux through the enzyme complex indicating that mitochondrial pyruvate transport has been restored. The results of this study indicate that α-cyanocinnamate and its derivatives are effective inhibitors of pyruvate transport in the perfused heart and that carrier-mediated pyruvate transport can be an important parameter in the regulation of the activation state and the metabolic flux through the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex in the heart.     

Reaction of the glucose carrier of erythrocytes with sodium tetrathionate: Evidence for inward-facing and outward-facing carrier conformations

Summary Sodium tetrathionate reacts with the glucose carrier of human erythrocytes at a rate which is greatly altered in the presence of competitive inhibitors of glucose transport. Inhibitors bound to the carrier on the outer surface of the membrane, either at the substrate site (maltose) or at the external inhibition site (phloretin and phlorizin), more than double the reaction rate. Inhibitors bound at the internal inhibition site (cytochalasin B and androstenedione), protect the system against tetrathionate. After treatment with tetrathionate, the maximum transport rate falls to less than one-third, and the properties of the binding sites are modified in unexpected ways. The affinity of externally bound inhibitors rises: phloretin is bound up to seven times more strongly and phlorizin and maltose twice as strongly. The affinity of cytochalasin B, bound at the internal inhibition site, falls to half while that of androstenedione is little changed. The affinity of external glucose falls slightly. Androstenedione prevents both the fall in transport activity and the increase in phloretin affinity produced by tetrathionate. An inhibitor of anion transport has no effect on the reaction. The observations support the following conclusions: (1) Tetrathionate produces its effects on the glucose transport system by reacting with the carrier on the outer surface of the membrane. (2) The carrier assumes distinct inward-facing and outward-facing conformations, and tetrathionate reacts with only the outward-facing form. (3) The thiol group with which tetrathionate is presumed to react is not present in either the substrate site or the internal or external inhibitor site. (4) In binding asymmetrically to the carrier, a reversible inhibitor shifts the carrier partition between inner and outer forms and thereby raises or lowers the rate of tetrathionate reaction with the system. (5) Reaction with tetrathionate converts the carrier to an altered state in which the conformation at all three binding sites is changed and the rate of carrier reorientation is reduced.     

The reaction of sulfhydryl groups with carbonyl compounds

The sulfhydryl groups of L-cysteine and reduced glutathione (GSH) react nonenzymatically with formaldehyde (F), acrolein (Al), acetaldehyde (AA), malondialdehyde (DAM), pyruvate (P), oxoglutarate (oxo-G) and glucose (G) to form thiazolidine derivatives. These reactions show different velocities and the adducts formed show different stabilities. The equilibrium constants K, as well as the rate constants kr for the reverse reaction, show considerable variation. The carbonyls reveal higher reactivity with sulfhydryl group of L-Cys than with those of GSH, and the stability of the adducts is higher than that of GSH. Al, F and AA react more rapidly with both thiol compounds than the other carbonyls, but the adducts are less stable. The sulfhydryl groups level of bovine serum albumin as well as those of high- and low-molecular thiols of human plasma is reduced in the presence of Al, F or DAM.     

Intramolecular coupling of active sites in the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli.

The intramolecular passage of substrate between the component enzymes of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli was examined. A series of partly reassembled complexes, varying only in their E1 (pyruvate decarboxylase, EC 1.2.4.1) content, was incubated with pyruvate in the absence of CoA, conditions under which the lipoic acid residues covalently bound to the E2 (lipoate acetyltransferase, EC2.3.1.12) chains of the complex become reductively acetylated, and the reaction then ceases. The fraction of E2 chains thus acetylated was estimated by specific reaction of the thiol groups in the acetyl-lipoic acid moieties with N-ethyl[2,3-14C]maleimide. The simplest interpretation of the results was that a single E1 dimer is capable of catalysing the rapid acetylation of 8-12 E2 chains, in good agreement with the results of Bates, Danson, Hale, Hooper & Perham [(1977) Nature (London) 268, 313-316]. This novel functional connexion of active sites must be brought about by transacetylation reactions between lipoic acid residues of neighbouring E2 chains in the enzyme complex. There was also a slow transacylation process between the rapidly acetylated lipoic acid residues and those that did not react in the initial, faster phase. This interaction was not investigated in detail, since it is too slow to be of kinetic significance in the normal enzymic reaction.     

Arginine Transport in the Culture Form of Trypanosoma cruzi

SYNOPSIS. Arginine in Trypanosoma cruzi is taken up by a mediated transport system; a large non-saturable component is also involved. Arginine transport specificity in T. cruzi is unusual since lysine and histidine do not inhibit its uptake. Glycine and valine are partially competitive inhibitors and homoarginine, alanine and methionine are completely competitive. At least one arginine transport site is so specific that homoarginine will not react with it. Apparently the diamino acid transport systems of T. cruzi have undergone major evolutionary modifications.     

Protein determination using bicinchoninic acid in the presence of sulfhydryl reagents

The bicinchoninic acid (BCA) copper reagent, developed for quantification of proteins, was found to react with thiol reagents in a linear and reproducible manner. The reactivity with thiols closely matched the extinction coefficient determined for the Cu(I)-BCA complex [6.6 X 10(3) liters (mol Cu.cm)-1], suggesting that the reaction is quantitative. This reaction interferes with the accurate determination of protein concentrations. A method was developed for determining protein concentrations in the presence of thiol reagents using the BCA protein reagent. The procedure involves preincubation of the protein solution with iodoacetamide prior to addition of the BCA protein reagent. Iodoacetamide does not react with the BCA reagent by itself. In the presence of a 10-fold molar excess of iodoacetamide over thiol equivalents, the reaction of the thiol with the BCA reagent is prevented. The method is simple and allows the assay of solutions of proteins which have been stabilized by the addition of thiol reagents.     

Interaction between catalytic and regulatory sites of the pyruvate dehydrogenase from Escherichia coli studied by the ESR technique

The accessibility of sulfhydryl groups at the pyruvate dehydrogenase component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex from Escherichia coli was reinvestigated. Hydrophobic interactions appear to control the reactivity of an essential cysteine residue at the active site with thiol reagents. This explains why the essential cysteine residue reacts only with thiol reagents of minor polarity, like p-hydroxymercuribenzoate or phenylmercuric nitrate, but not with Ellman's reagent or jodoacetamide. The pyruvate dehydrogenase component was modified with a nitroxide derivative of p-hydroxymercuribenzoate. The ESR spectrum of the spin-labelled enzyme changed dramatically upon addition of the cofactors thiamine diphosphate and Mg2+. Obviously spin-spin interaction occurs under these conditions caused by a transition of an inactive to an active state of the enzyme. The same conformational change is observed when the allosteric activator AMP instead of the cofactors was bound to the enzyme. The implications of these results for the allosteric regulation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex are discussed.