Binding studies of a spin-labelled oxidized coenzyme to bovine-liver glutamate dehydrogenase.

NAD+ with a nitroxide piperidine ring linked to the NH2 group of the adenine possesses full coenzymatic activity with glutamate dehydrogenase. Electron spin resonance spectra in the presence of glutamate dehydrogenase show mixtures of free and strongly immobilized spin-label. Binding studies in phosphate buffer demonstrate: (a) weak binary binding to the enzyme with a dissociation constant in the order of 2mM;(b) an indication for negative cooperativity or different sites for binding to enzyme-2-oxoglutarate, with dissociation constants in the order of 20--250muM; (c) similar but much weaker binding to enzyme-2-oxoglutarate-ADP; (d) a strong positive cooperative binding to enzyme-2-oxoglutarate-GTP, dependent on the enzyme concentration. Binding of phosphate to the enzyme with a Kd of about 20 mM or binding of pyrophosphate or tripolyphosphate with a Dd of about 2.5 mM enhances the binding of spin-labelled NAD+ in the presence of 2-oxoglutarate. There is evidence that the binding sites for these phosphates coincide with phosphate binding subsites of GTP.     

Heat denaturation of bovine liver glutamate dehydrogenase.

Heat denaturation of bovine liver glutamate dehydrogenase occurred at 47 degrees with loss of enzyme activity and formation of inactive, insoluble protein. Fractional loss of catalytic activity coincided with alteration in protein fluorescence and solubility for a corresponding percentage of protein molecules. Operationally, at 50% denaturation, one-half of the total population of enzyme molecules is fully active catalytically and soluble and the other half of the protein molecule population is completely inactive catalytically and insoluble.     

Kinetic studies of dogfish liver glutamate dehydrogenase.

Initial-rate studies were made of the oxidation of L-glutamate by NAD+ and NADP+ catalysed by highly purified preparations of dogfish liver glutamate dehydrogenase. With NAD+ as coenzyme the kinetics show the same features of coenzyme activation as seen with the bovine liver enzyme [Engel & Dalziel (1969) Biochem. J. 115, 621--631]. With NADP+ as coenzyme, initial rates are much slower than with NAD+, and Lineweaver--Burk plots are linear over extended ranges of substrate and coenzyme concentration. Stopped-flow studies with NADP+ as coenzyme give no evidence for the accumulation of significant concentrations of NADPH-containing complexes with the enzyme in the steady state. Protection studies against inactivation by pyridoxal 5'-phosphate indicate that NAD+ and NADP+ give the same degree of protection in the presence of sodium glutarate. The results are used to deduce information about the mechanism of glutamate oxidation by the enzyme. Initial-rate studies of the reductive amination of 2-oxoglutarate by NADH and NADPH catalysed by dogfish liver glutamate dehydrogenase showed that the kinetic features of the reaction are very similar with both coenzymes, but reactions with NADH are much faster. The data show that a number of possible mechanisms for the reaction may be discarded, including the compulsory mechanism (previously proposed for the enzyme) in which the sequence of binding is NAD(P)H, NH4+ and 2-oxoglutarate. The kinetic data suggest either a rapid-equilibrium random mechanism or the compulsory mechanism with the binding sequence NH4+, NAD(P)H, 2-oxoglutarate. However, binding studies and protection studies indicate that coenzyme and 2-oxoglutarate do bind to the free enzyme.     

Reaction of formiminoglutamate with liver glutamate dehydrogenase.

1. Kinetic aspects of the reaction between crystalline bovine liver glutamate dehydrogenase and formiminoglutamate were investigated to establish the conditions under which the latter may interfere with the assay of glutamate by using glutamate dehydrogenase and to explain why formiminoglutamate accumulates in vivo after histidine loading, although it can react with glutamate dehydrogenase. The Km and Vmax. values were compared with those of the enzyme reacting with glutamate. At pH 7.4 Km for formiminoglutamate was much higher and Vmax. much lower than the values for glutamate. 2. The equilibrium constant at pH 7.0 was 0.017 micrometer with formiminoglutamate, i.e. about one two-hundredths that with glutamate. 3. In vivo the interaction between glutamate dehydrogenase and formiminoglutamate is minimal even when the concentration of the latter in the liver is greatly raised, as in cobalamine or folate deficiency after histidine loading. 4. At pH 9.3, i.e. under the conditions for the assay of glutamate by glutamate dehydrogenase, formiminoglutamate reacts readily with the enzyme.     

A product-inhibition study of bovine liver glutamate dehydrogenase.

1. Initial rates of oxidative deamination of L-glutamate with NAD+ as coenzyme, and of reductive aminiation of 2-oxoglutarate with NADH as coenzyme, catalysed by bovine liver glutamate dehydrogenase were measured in 0.111 M-sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7, at 25 degrees C, in the absence and presence of product inhibitors. All 12 possible combinations of variable substrate and product inhibitor were used. 2. Strict competition was observed between NAD+ and NADH, and between glutamate and 2-oxoglutarate. All other inhibition patterns were clearly non-competitive, except for inhibition by NH4+ with NAD+ as variable substrate. Here the extrapolation did not permit a clear distinction between competitive and non-competitive inhibition. 3. Mutually non-competitive behaviour between glutamate and NH4+ indicates that these substrates can be bound at the active site simultaneously. 4. Primary Lineweaver-Burk plots and derived secondary plots of slopes and intercepts against inhibitor concentration were linear, with one exception: with 2-oxoglutarate as variable substrate, the replot of primary intercepts against inhibitory NAD+ concentration was curved. 5. Separate Ki values were evaluated for the effect of each product inhibitor on the individual terms in the reciprocal initial-rate equations. With this information it is possible to calculate rates for any combination of substrate concentrations within the experimental range with any concentration of a single product inhibitor. 6. The inhibition patterns are consistent with neither a simple compulsory-order mechanism nor a rapid-equilibrium random-order mechanism without modification. They can, however, be reconciled with either type of mechanism by postulating appropirate abortive complexes. Of the two compulsory sequences that have been proposed, one, that in which the order of binding is NADH, NH4+, 2-oxoglutarate, requires an implausible pattern of abortive complex-formation to account for the results. 7. On the basis of a rapid-equilibrium random-order mechanism, dissociation constants can be calculated from the Ki values. Where these can be compared with independent estimates from the kinetics of the uninhibited reaction or from direct measurements of substrate binding, the agreement is reasonable good. On balance, therefore, the results provide further support for the rapid-equilibrium random-order mechanism under these conditions.     

The chymotrypsin-catalysed activation of bovine liver glutamate dehydrogenase.

Rat heart cells and mitochondria were incubated with supernatants from eosinophils or neutrophils that had been stimulated with zymosan-C3b. Supernatants from eosinophils, but not neutrophils, were toxic to rat heart cells in a dose-dependent manner. This was associated with an increased O2 uptake, which was blocked by either 1 mM-cyanide or 100 microM-ouabain. Supernatants from eosinophils, but not neutrophils, caused a decrease in O2 uptake by rat heart mitochondria utilizing pyruvate (+ malate) but not other substrates. The activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.4.1) from rat heart was inhibited by Ca2+-free eosinophil supernatants. The activity of oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.4.2) was also inhibited but not that of lipoamide dehydrogenase (EC 1.6.4.3). Prior incubation with heparin prevented these effects of eosinophil supernatants on heart cells, suggesting that they were caused by eosinophil cationic proteins. Other cationic proteins, including poly-L-lysine and poly-L-arginine were also toxic to rat heart cells, but these reduced O2 uptake. It was concluded that granulocyte secretion products containing eosinophil cationic proteins are toxic to isolated rat heart cells in vitro. This may be due to an initial increase in membrane permeability, which may lead to activation of (Na+ + K+)-dependent ATPase and increased O2 uptake. A second step may involve inhibition of pyruvate dehydrogenase by the same products, leading to a decreased O2 uptake. It is suggested that these mechanisms could contribute to the development of cardiac injury and myocardial disease in clinical situations where many degranulated eosinophils are present.     

Binding of ethidium bromide to fractionated chromatin

The binding of ethidium bromide (EB) to different chromatin preparations was tested. Scatchard plots showed that the slowly sedimenting fraction of sheared chromatin is enriched in dye-binding sites. Limited nuclease digestion of rat liver nuclei, which has been shown to preserve the subunit structure of chromatin, reduces the number of binding sites available for intercalation of the dye.     

Binding of ethidium to the nucleosome core particle. 1. Binding and dissociation reactions

We have examined binding properties of and dissociation induced by the intercalating dye ethidium bromide when it interacts with the nucleosome core particle under low ionic strength conditions. Ethidium binding to the core particle results in a reversible dissociation which requires the critical binding of 14 ethidium molecules. Under low ionic strength conditions, dissociation is about 90% completed in 5 h. The observed ethidium binding isotherm was corrected for the presence of free DNA due to particle dissociation. The corrected curve reveals that the binding of ethidium to the core particle itself is a highly cooperative process characterized by a low intrinsic binding constant of KA = 2.4 X 10(4) M-1 and a cooperativity parameter of omega = approximately 140. The number of base pairs excluded to another dye molecule by each bound dye molecule (n) is 4.5. Through the use of a chemical probe, methidiumpropyl-EDTA (MPE), we have localized the initial binding sites of ethidium in the core particle to consist of an average of 27 +/- 4 bp of DNA that are distributed near both ends of the DNA termini. MPE footprint analysis has also revealed that, prior to dissociation, the fractional population of core particles which bind the dye (f) may be as low as 50%. Comparison of the binding and dissociation data showed that the cooperative maximum of the binding curve occurred at or near the critical value, i.e., at the point where dissociation began. The data were used to generate a detailed model for the association of ethidium with chromatin at the level of the nucleosome.     

Relaxation kinetic studies of coenzyme binding to glutamate dehydrogenase from beef liver.

The enzyme, D-erythrodihydroneopterin triphosphate synthetase from rat brain was observed to have a significantly lower specific activity than that from liver due to their degree of dephosphorylation during preparation. The brain enzyme could be phosphorylated $\text{in vitro}$ in presence of [³²P]-ATP and protein kinase, resulting in an increased specific activity. Isolation of brain enzyme in presence of 0.8 M NaF allowed recovery of the enzyme phosphorylated at residue 67 (serine) as determined by a new assay for phosphate. This enzyme is present in synaptosomes and its state of phosphorylation may regulate the rate at which dihydrobiopterin, the precursor of the hydroxylase cofactor (tetrahydrobiopterin, BH₄), is synthesized by synaptosomes.     

Binding of bifunctional ethidium intercalators to transfer RNA

Two bifunctional intercalating dimers, an ethidium homodimer and an acridine ethidium heterodimer, bind to yeast tRNA^phe through two classes of sites, I and II (K_I ≥ 10⁹ M^?1, K_II ～ 10⁶ M^?1), as indicated by fluorescence titration, fluorescence lifetime, “contact” energy transfer and equilibrium dialysis measurements. Binding appears to involve mono-intercalation of the phenanthridinium moiety of these dimers and it is sensitive to, or possibly coupled with, conformational changes within the tRNA macromolecule. These observations raise the possibility that tRNA may represent a pharmacological target of the bifunctional intercalators.     

Binding by glutamate dehydrogenase of 14C from bicarbonate buffer

Different levels of carbon dioxide (10,20, 40, 80, mM) at pH 6.7, 7.3, 7.6 and 8.5 of incubation media were studied for their effect on the intensity of binding of 14C from bicarbonate buffer by crystalline NAD(P)+-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase from the bovine liver. The effect of a variety of substrates and effectors on this process is investigated. The intensity of the radioactive label binding is shown to increase with pH of the incubation medium and carbon dioxide concentration in it. When acidifying the medium (up to pH 6.5) the enzyme under study does not bind 14C. The preincubation of the enzyme with pyridoxal-5-phosphate decreases considerably the intensity of the label binding with the protein. On the basis of these data a conclusion is drawn about the interaction of CO2 with free amino groups of the enzyme molecule by the type of the carbamate formation. GTP and NADH inhibit this process as well.