In Vitro ATP Regeneration from Polyphosphate and AMP by Polyphosphate:AMP Phosphotransferase and Adenylate Kinase from Acinetobacter johnsonii 210A

In vitro enzyme-based ATP regeneration systems are important for improving yields of ATP-dependent enzymatic reactions for preparative organic synthesis and biocatalysis. Several enzymatic ATP regeneration systems have been described but have some disadvantages. We report here on the use of polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase (PPT) from Acinetobacter johnsonii strain 210A in an ATP regeneration system based on the use of polyphosphate (polyP) and AMP as substrates. We have examined the substrate specificity of PPT and demonstrated ATP regeneration from AMP and polyP using firefly luciferase and hexokinase as model ATP-requiring enzymes. PPT catalyzes the reaction polyP_n + AMP → ADP + polyP_n−1. The ADP can be converted to ATP by adenylate kinase (AdK). Substrate specificity with nucleoside and 2′-deoxynucleoside monophosphates was examined using partially purified PPT by measuring the formation of nucleoside diphosphates with high-pressure liquid chromatography. AMP and 2′-dAMP were efficiently phosphorylated to ADP and 2′-dADP, respectively. GMP, UMP, CMP, and IMP were not converted to the corresponding diphosphates at significant rates. Sufficient AdK and PPT activity in A. johnsonii 210A cell extract allowed demonstration of polyP-dependent ATP regeneration using a firefly luciferase-based ATP assay. Bioluminescence from the luciferase reaction, which normally decays very rapidly, was sustained in the presence of A. johnsonii 210A cell extract, MgCl₂, polyP_n=35, and AMP. Similar reaction mixtures containing strain 210A cell extract or partially purified PPT, polyP, AMP, glucose, and hexokinase formed glucose 6-phosphate. The results indicate that PPT from A. johnsonii is specific for AMP and 2′-dAMP and catalyzes a key reaction in the cell-free regeneration of ATP from AMP and polyP. The PPT/AdK system provides an alternative to existing enzymatic ATP regeneration systems in which phosphoenolpyruvate and acetylphosphate serve as phosphoryl donors and has the advantage that AMP and polyP are stabile, inexpensive substrates.     

Polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase and polyphosphate:ADP phosphotransferase activities of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

In Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, we have found massive polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase activity and polyphosphate:ADP phosphotransferase activity known as the reverse catalytic activity of polyphosphate kinase which participates in polyphosphate synthesis in the bacterium. Biochemical analysis using the partially purified polyphosphate:ADP phosphotransferase has revealed that it is independent of polyphosphate kinase and can function as polyphosphate-dependent nucleoside diphosphate kinase which most prefers GDP to the other three nucleoside diphosphates as a phospho-acceptor. It has been also demonstrated that polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase activity marked in the bacterium mainly originates from the combined action of the polyphosphate:ADP phosphotransferase described above and adenylate kinase. Both of the polyphosphate-utilizing activities require short polyP as a phospho-donor whose chain length is <75.     

Polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase as a polyphosphate-dependent nucleoside monophosphate kinase in Acinetobacter johnsonii 210A

We have cloned the gene for polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase (PAP), the enzyme that catalyzes phosphorylation of AMP to ADP at the expense of polyphosphate [poly(P)] in Acinetobacter johnsonii 210A. A genomic DNA library was constructed in Escherichia coli, and crude lysates of about 6,000 clones were screened for PAP activity. PAP activity was evaluated by measuring ATP produced by the coupled reactions of PAP and purified E. coli poly(P) kinases (PPKs). In this coupled reaction, PAP produces ADP from poly(P) and AMP, and the resulting ADP is converted to ATP by PPK. The isolated pap gene (1,428 bp) encodes a protein of 475 amino acids with a molecular mass of 55.8 kDa. The C-terminal region of PAP is highly homologous with PPK2 homologs isolated from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. Two putative phosphate-binding motifs (P-loops) were also identified. The purified PAP enzyme had not only strong PAP activity but also poly(P)-dependent nucleoside monophosphate kinase activity, by which it converted ribonucleoside monophosphates and deoxyribonucleoside monophosphates to ribonucleoside diphosphates and deoxyribonucleoside diphosphates, respectively. The activity for AMP was about 10 times greater than that for GMP and 770 and about 1,100 times greater than that for UMP and CMP.     

ATP amplification for ultrasensitive bioluminescence assay: detection of a single bacterial cell

We developed an ultrasensitive bioluminescence assay of ATP by employing (i) adenylate kinase (ADK) for converting AMP + ATP to two molecules of ADP, (ii) polyphosphate (polyP) kinase (PPK) for converting ADP back to ATP (ATP amplification), and (iii) a commercially available firefly luciferase. A highly purified PPK-ADK fusion protein efficiently amplified ATP, resulting in high levels of bioluminescence in the firefly luciferase reaction. The present method, which was approximately 10,000-fold more sensitive to ATP than the conventional bioluminescence assay, allowed us to detect bacterial contamination as low as one colony-forming unit (CFU) of Escherichia coli per assay.     

Inorganic polyphosphate and polyphosphate kinase: their novel biological functions and applications

In this review, we discuss the following two subjects: 1) the physiological function of polyphosphate (poly(P)) as a regulatory factor for gene expression in Escherichia coli, and 2) novel functions of E. coli polyphosphate kinase (PPK) and their applications. With regard to the first subject, it has been shown that E. coli cells in which yeast exopolyphosphatase (poly(P)ase), PPX1, was overproduced reduced resistance to H2O2 and heat shock as did a mutant whose polyphosphate kinase gene is disrupted. Sensitivity to H2O2 and heat shock evinced by cells that overproduce PPX1 is attributed to depressed levels of rpoS expression. Since rpoS is a central element in a regulatory network that governs the expression of stationary-phase-induced genes, poly(P) affects the expression of many genes through controlling rpoS expression. Furthermore, poly(P) is also involved in expression of other stress-inducible genes that are not directly regulated by rpoS. The second subject includes the application of novel functions of PPK for nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) regeneration. Recently E. coli PPK has been found to catalyze the kination of not only ADP but also other nucleoside diphosphates using poly(P) as a phospho-donor, yielding NTPs. This nucleoside diphosphate kinase-like activity of PPK was confirmed to be available for NTP regeneration essential for enzymatic oligosaccharide synthesis using the sugar nucleotide cycling method. PPK has also been found to express a poly(P):AMP phosphotransferase activity by coupling with adenylate kinase (ADK) in E. coli. The ATP-regeneration system consisting of ADK, PPK, and poly(P) was shown to be promising for practical utilization of poly(P) as ATP substitute.     

Analysis of adenine nucleotides at the picomole level with 32P-phosphoenolpyruvate and pyruvate kinase.

A new sensitive method for adenine nucleotide analysis is described. The key reaction is the phosphorylation of ADP by [³²P]PEP in a reaction catalyzed by pyruvate kinase, with the extent of transfer of ³²P to ADP being determined by adsorbing the nucleotides onto charcoal. The nonadenine nucleoside diphosphates which also react in the pyruvate kinase reaction are corrected for by determining the ³²P retained in the nucleotide fraction after a second incubation with hexokinase and excess glucose. ATP is determined as ADP, after it is quantitatively converted by hexokinase in the presence of excess glucose. Similarly, AMP is analyzed by its conversion to ADP in an incubation with excess ATP and adenylate kinase. The sensitivity of the method for ADP and ATP is 0.05–0.5 pmoles while for AMP it is 5 pmoles.     

Polyphosphate synthetic activity of polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase in Acinetobacter johnsonii 210A

Polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase (PAP) has been identified as an enzyme that catalyzes the phosphorylation of AMP with inorganic polyphosphates [poly(P)] as phosphate donors. We found that the purified PAP of Acinetobacter johnsonii 210A has poly(P) synthetic activity. The PAP catalyzes the dephosphorylation of ADP and processively synthesizes poly(P) of 200 to 700 residues. Comparatively lower concentrations of MgCl(2) (20 mM) were required to obtain optimum poly(P) synthetic activity, whereas higher concentrations of MgCl(2) (100 mM) were necessary for optimum PAP activity. ADP is preferred over GDP as a phosphate donor for poly(P) synthesis. The K(m) and V(max) values for ADP in the poly(P) synthetic activity of PAP were 8.3 mM and 55 micromol min(-1) mg(-1), respectively. We concluded that the PAP of A. johnsonii 210A is a novel type of poly(P) kinase that uses ADP and GDP as substrates.     

ATP production from polyphosphate in Acinetobacter strain 210A

In cell-free extracts of Acinetobacter strain 210A polyphosphate: AMP phosphotransferase and adenylate kinase activity was measured. Polyphosphate glucokinase and polyphosphate dependent NAD kinase were not detected. The specific activity of polyphosphate: AMP phosphotransferase was found to be 43 nmol · min^-1 · mg^-1 protein in presence of 1 mmol · l^-1 AMP. The adenylate kinase reaction had an equilibrium constant ([ATP] [AMP] [ADP]^-2) of 0.7, an activity of 54 nmol · min^-1 · mg^-1 protein, and was almost completely inhibited by 0.3 mM P¹,P⁵-di(adenosine-5)-pentaphosphate. ATP was formed through the combined action of polyphosphate: AMP phosphotransferase and adenylate kinase in cell-free extracts from bacterial polyphosphate and from chemically prepared polyphosphate (Graham's salt). A spectrophotometric method for the continuous monitoring of polyphosphate: AMP phosphotransferase is also presented.Abbreviations Ap₅A P¹,P⁵-di(adenosine-5)-pentaphosphate - G6P-DH D-glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase - HK hexokinase - AEC adenylate energy charge - U units (converting 1 mol · min^-1)     

The multiple activities of polyphosphate kinase of Escherichia coli and their subunit structure determined by radiation target analysis

Polyphosphate kinase (PPK), the principal enzyme required for the synthesis of inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) from ATP, also exhibits other enzymatic activities, which differ significantly in their biochemical optima and responses to chemical agents. These several activities include: polyP synthesis (forward reaction), nATP --> polyP(n) + nADP (Equation 1); ATP synthesis from polyP (reverse reaction), ADP + polyP(n) --> ATP + polyP(n - 1) (Equation 2); general nucleoside-diphosphate kinase, GDP + polyP(n) --> GTP + polyP(n - 1) (Equation 3); linear guanosine 5'-tetraphosphate (ppppG) synthesis, GDP + polyP(n) --> ppppG + polyP(n - 2) (Equation 4); and autophosphorylation, PPK + ATP --> PPK-P + ADP (Equation 5). The Mg(2+) optima are 5, 2, 1, and 0.2 mM, respectively, for the activities in Equations 1, 2, 3, and 4. Inorganic pyrophosphate inhibits the activities in Equations 1 and 3 but stimulates that in Equation 4. The kinetics of the activities in Equations 1, 2, and 3 are highly processive, whereas the transfer of a pyrophosphoryl group from polyP to GDP (Equation 4) is distributive and demonstrates a rapid equilibrium, random Bi-Bi catalytic mechanism. Radiation target analysis revealed that the principal functional unit of the homotetrameric PPK is a dimer. Exceptions are a trimer for the synthesis of ppppG (Equation 4) and a tetrameric state for the autophosphorylation of PPK (Equation 5) at low ATP concentrations. Thus, the diverse functions of this enzyme involve different subunit organizations and conformations. The highly conserved homology of PPK among 18 microorganisms was used to determine important residues and conserved regions by alanine substitution, by site-directed mutagenesis, and by deletion mutagenesis. Of 46 single-site mutants, seven exhibit none of the five enzymatic activities; in one mutant, ATP synthesis from polyP is reduced relative to GTP synthesis. Among deletion mutants, some lost all five PPK activities, but others retained partial activity for some reactions but not for others.     

Cooperation and Competition between Adenylate Kinase,Nucleoside Diphosphokinase,Electron Transport,and ATP Synthase in Plant Mitochondria Studied by 31P-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Nucleotide metabolism in potato (Solanum tuberosum) mitochondria was studied using 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and the O2 electrode. Immediately following the addition of ADP, ATP synthesis exceeded the rate of oxidative phosphorylation, fueled by succinate oxidation, due to mitochondrial adenylate kinase (AK) activity two to four times the maximum activity of ATP synthase. Only when the AK reaction approached equilibrium was oxidative phosphorylation the primary mechanism for net ATP synthesis. A pool of sequestered ATP in mitochondria enabled AK and ATP synthase to convert AMP to ATP in the presence of exogenous inorganic phosphate. During this conversion, AK activity can indirectly influence rates of oxidation of both succinate and NADH via changes in mitochondrial ATP. Mitochondrial nucleoside diphosphokinase, in cooperation with ATP synthase, was found to facilitate phosphorylation of nucleoside diphosphates other than ADP at rates similar to the maximum rate of oxidative phosphorylation. These results demonstrate that plant mitochondria contain all of the machinery necessary to rapidly regenerate nucleoside triphosphates from AMP and nucleoside diphosphates made during cellular biosynthesis and that AK activity can affect both the amount of ADP available to ATP synthase and the level of ATP regulating electron transport.     

An enzymatic cycling method using pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase and firefly luciferase for the simultaneous determination of ATP and AMP (RNA)

A novel bioluminescent enzymatic cycling assay for ATP and AMP with concomitant use of firefly luciferase and pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK) was developed. In this system, AMP and pyrophosphate produced from ATP by firefly luciferase were converted back into ATP by PPDK. This resulted in constant luminescence once the stable phase had been reached. Background luminescence of the reagent was reduced with adenosine phosphate deaminase by degrading ATP and AMP in the reagent. The maximum recycling ratio calculated from the integrated luminescence value was 2.64 cycles/min. The measurable ranges for ATP and AMP were equal and were between 4 x 10(-13) and 4 x 10(-17) mol/assay. The amount of yeast RNA could be estimated in the range of 1 x 10(-8) to 1 x 10(-12) g/assay by estimating the amount of AMP resulting from the degradation of RNA with nuclease P1. Various food samples were subjected to measurement of the amount of ATP + AMP + RNA to provide an index for hygiene monitoring. For beef extract, sensitivity was improved by more than 20 million compared to the previous methods relying only on the amount of ATP as an index.     

Determination of adenosine 5'-triphosphate by the luciferase system with a stopped-flow spectrometer.

A stopped-flow spectrometer is used for ATP assay by firefly luciferase-luciferin method. It allows one to record initial rise of the light intensity and to differentiate the light produced due to the conversion of ADP to ATP by nucleoside diphosphokinase in the firefly lantern when other nucleoside triphosphates are present. Addition of luciferin (0.27 mm) to luciferase extract increases the light intensity by a factor of 50–100. This method can be used to measure ATP in the picomole range.     

Luminometric assays of ATP, phosphocreatine, and creatine for estimation of free ADP and free AMP.

We present methods to measure ATP, phosphocreatine, and total creatine (the sum of creatine and phosphocreatine) in alkaline cell extracts. Knowledge of these parameters, together with the known equilibrium constants for the creatine kinase and adenylate kinase-catalyzed reactions, allows one to estimate the levels of free ADP and free AMP inside cells. The enzymatic assays for the above-mentioned metabolites all lead up to the production of ATP, which is measured luminometrically with the ATP-dependent oxidation of luciferin catalyzed by firefly luciferase. To determine phosphocreatine, endogenous ATP is first destroyed, and phosphocreatine is then quantitatively reacted with exogenous ADP to form ATP. Total creatine is measured after quantitative conversion of creatine to phosphocreatine with a large excess of exogenous ATP, conversion of all ATP to ADP, and final reaction of phosphocreatine with ADP to form ATP. We used 5-microl samples in 0.5-ml microcentrifuge tubes and subsequent 5-microl additions of analytical reagents. We expect that the volumes can be changed easily. We tested the methods with glucagon- and insulin-secreting cells. Estimates of free ADP and AMP are expected to be useful in many different areas of research, such as cellular energy metabolism, purine nucleotide metabolism, adenine nucleotide gating of ion channels, and release of vasoactive or angiogenic factors.     

Streptomyces lividans potassium channel contains poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate and inorganic polyphosphate

The Streptomyces lividans KcsA potassium channel, a homotetramer of 17.6 kDa subunits, was found to contain two nonproteinaceous polymers, namely, poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and inorganic polyphosphate (polyP). PHB and polyP are ubiquitous cellular constituents with a demonstrated capacity for cation selection and transport. PHB was detected in both tetramer and monomer species of KcsA by reaction to anti-PHB IgG on Western blots, and estimated as 28 monomer units of PHB per KcsA tetramer by a chemical assay in which PHB is converted to its unique degradation product, crotonic acid. PolyP was detected in KcsA tetramers, but not in monomers, by metachromatic reaction to o-toluidine blue stain on SDS-PAGE gels. A band of free polyP was also visible, suggesting that polyP is released when tetramers dissociate. The exopolyphosphatase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae degraded the free polyP, but tetramer-associated polyP was not affected, indicating it was inaccessible to the enzyme. PolyP in KcsA was estimated as 15 monomer units per tetramer by an enzymatic assay in which polyphosphate kinase is used to transfer phosphates from polyP to [(14)C]ADP, yielding [(14)C]ATP. The experimentally determined isoelectric point of KcsA tetramer was 6.5-7.5, substantially more acidic than the theoretical pI of 10.3, and consistent with the inclusion of a polyanion. The results suggest that PHB is covalently bound to KcsA subunits while polyP is held within tetramers by ionic forces. It is posited that KcsA protein creates an environment in which PHB/polyP is selective for K(+). The basic amino acids attenuate the negative charge density of polyP, thereby transforming the cation binding preference from multivalent to monovalent, and discrimination between K(+) and Na(+) is accomplished by adjusting the ligand geometry in cation binding cavities formed by PHB and polyP.     

Properties of polyphosphate: AMP phosphotransferase of Acinetobacter strain 210A.

Polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase, an enzyme which catalyzes the phosphorylation of AMP to ADP at the expense of polyphosphate, was purified more than 1,500-fold from Acinetobacter strain 210A by streptomycin sulfate precipitation and by Mono-Q, Phenyl Superose, and Superose column chromatography. Streptomycin sulfate precipitation appeared to be an effective step in the purification procedure. During the following chromatographic steps, there was a 29-fold increase in specific activity but the yield was low (0.3%). Kinetic studies showed apparent Km values of 0.26 mM for AMP and 0.8 microM for polyphosphate with an average chain length of 35 phosphate groups. The highest activities were found with polyphosphate molecules of 18 to 44 phosphate residues. The polyphosphate chain was degraded completely to ADP. The mechanism of degradation is processive. No activity was obtained with ortho-, pyro-, tri-, and tetraphosphate. The enzyme was inhibited by pyro-, tri-, and tetraphosphate. The inhibition by tri- and tetraphosphate was mixed with polyphosphate as a substrate. The inhibition constants for the dissociation of the enzyme-inhibitor complex and for the enzyme-inhibitor-substrate complex were 0.9 and 6.5 mM, respectively, for triphosphate and 0.7 and 1.5 mM, respectively, for tetraphosphate.     

Effect of nucleoside 5′-di- and 5′-tri-phosphates on pancreatic ribonuclease activity

1. ADP, ATP and GDP inhibited the phosphotransferase activity, the release of cyclic nucleotides from RNA, of ribonuclease. No significant inhibition was elicited by pyrimidine 5'-nucleoside diphosphates, CDP and UDP. 2. Inhibition by ADP, AMP, adenosine, adenine, NAD and NADP was insignificant at the concentrations tested. Small inhibition was observed with high concentrations of AMP and only when soluble RNA was the substrate. 3. Inhibition by ADP was found to be ;uncompetitive'. 4. Results seem to indicate that at least for optimum inhibition the polyphosphate of the purine nucleoside is essential. They further suggest that the inhibitor acts by combining with the enzyme only when the enzyme is bound to the substrate.     

Immobilized polyphosphate kinase: preparation, properties, and potential for use in adenosine 5'-triphosphate regeneration

Polyphosphate kinase (ATP:polyphosphate phosphotransferase; EC 2.7.4.1), partially purified from Escherichia coli, has been immobilized on glutaraldehyde-activated aminoethyl cellulose with a 10% retention of enzymatic activity. The immobilized enzyme can carry out the synthesis of ATP from ADP, using long-chain inorganic polyphosphate as a phosphoryl donor. Chromatographic analyses of the product mixture produced from ADP and [32P]polyphosphate demonstrated that 98% of the 32P was incorporated into ATP, indicating that the immobilized polyphosphate kinase is substantially free from contaminating polyphosphate phosphohydrolase (EC 3.6.1.11), adenosine triphosphatase (EC 3.6.1.4), and adenylate kinase (EC 2.7.4.3). Immobilized polyphosphate kinase loses no activity when stored in an aqueous suspension for 2 months at 5 degrees C or for 1-2 weeks at 25 degrees C. It may be stored indefinitely as a lyophilized powder at -10 degrees C. Michaelis constants for ADP and polyphosphate were determined to be 160 and 120 microM, respectively, for the immobilized enzyme. A small-batch reactor was found to produce ATP linearly with time up to 65% conversion of polyphosphate into ATP and to attain greater than 85% conversion to ATP at equilibrium. The ease of purification and immobilization of E. coli polyphosphate kinase, its storage stability, the purity and yield of its ATP product, and the low values of the Michaelis constants for its substrates make it a highly promising enzyme for ATP regeneration.     

Enumeration of bacterial cell numbers by amplified firefly bioluminescence without cultivation

We recently developed a novel bioluminescent enzymatic cycling assay for ATP and AMP with the concomitant use of firefly luciferase and pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK), where AMP and pyrophosphate produced from ATP by firefly luciferase were converted back into ATP by PPDK. Background luminescence derived from contaminating ATP and AMP in the reagent was reduced using adenosine phosphate deaminase which degrades ATP, ADP, and AMP, resulting in constant and highly amplified bioluminescence with low background luminescence. To detect bacterial cells without cultivation, we applied the above bioluminescent enzymatic cycling reagent to rapid microbe detection system. ATP spots (0.31-5.0 amol/spot) at the level of a single bacterial cell were detected with 5 min signal integration, signifying that integrated luminescence was amplified 43 times in comparison to traditional ATP bioluminescence. Consequently, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Lactobacillus brevis in beer were detected without cultivation. Significant correlation was observed between the number of signal spots obtained using this novel system and the colony-forming units observed with the conventional colony-counting method (R(2)=0.973).     

Adenosine kinase from rat liver: new biochemical properties

Adenosine kinase is a well-known enzyme which catalyzes the phosphorylation of adenosine to AMP: Its metabolic and kinetic properties are well studied. Here, we report new properties of rat liver enzyme, demonstrating a new reaction: ADP can be a phosphate donor instead ATP, according to the reaction: adenosine + ADP --> 2AMP) demonstrating the efficiency of AdK to phosphorylate adenosine, also starting from ADP. Cells could exploited this property in situations in which ATP levels are strongly decreased and ADP decreases slowly.     

Use of helper enzymes for ADP removal in infrared spectroscopic experiments: application to Ca2+-ATPase

Adenylate kinase (AdK) and apyrase were employed as helper enzymes to remove ADP in infrared spectroscopic experiments that study the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase. The infrared absorbance changes of their enzymatic reactions were characterized and used to monitor enzyme activity. AdK transforms ADP to ATP and AMP, whereas apyrase consumes ATP and ADP to generate AMP and inorganic phosphate. The benefits of using them as helper enzymes are severalfold: i), both remove ADP generated after ATP hydrolysis by ATPase, which enables repeat of ATP-release experiments several times with the same sample without interference by ADP; ii), AdK helps maintain the presence of ATP for a longer time by regenerating 50% of the initial ATP; iii), apyrase generates free P(i), which can help stabilize the ADP-insensitive phosphoenzyme (E2P); and iv), apyrase can be used to monitor ADP dissociation from transient enzyme intermediates with relatively high affinity to ADP, as shown here for ADP dissociation from the ADP-sensitive phosphoenzyme intermediate (Ca(2)E1P). The respective infrared spectra indicate that ADP dissociation relaxes the closed conformation immediately after phosphorylation partially back toward the open conformation of Ca(2)E1 but does not trigger the transition to E2P. The helper enzyme approach can be extended to study other nucleotide-dependent proteins.