Comparative reactivity of carbamyl phosphate and glucose 6-phosphate with the glucose-6-phosphatase of intact microsomes

The ability of glucose 6-phosphate and carbamyl phosphate to serve as substrates for glucose-6-phosphatase (D-glucose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase; EC 3.1.3.9) of intact and disrupted microsomes from rat liver was compared at pH 7.0. Results support carbamyl phosphate and glucose 6-phosphate as effective substrates with both. Km values for carbamyl phosphate and glucose 6-phosphate were greater with intact than with disrupted microsomes, but Vmax values were higher with the latter. The substrate translocase-catalytic unit concept of glucose-6-phosphatase function is thus confirmed. The Km values for 3-O-methyl-D-glucose and D-glucose were larger when determined with intact than with disrupted microsomes. This observation is consistent with the involvement of a translocase specific for hexose substrate as a rate-influencing determinant in phosphotransferase activity of glucose-6-phosphatase.     

The role of the membrane in the regulation of activity of microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase

The factors regulating glucose-6-phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.9) activity and substrate specificity in hepatic microsomes were studied by determining the rate-limiting reaction for the hydrolysis of glucose-6-P, and by examining the effect of detergent activation on phosphotransferase activity. Examination of the pre-steady state kinetics of glucose-6-phosphatase revealed that the steady state rate is determined by the rate of hydrolysis of the enzyme-P intermediate. Treatment of the enzyme with detergent does not alter the extent of the rapid release of glucose per mg of protein, but activates the steady state rate of catalytic turnover. Specificity of the enzyme was evaluated by comparing the effects of mannose and glucose as phosphate acceptors in the phosphotransferase reaction catalyzed by glucose-6-phosphatase. Untreated glucose-6-phosphatase discriminates against mannose as compared with glucose in that mannose and glucose bind to the enzyme-P intermediate of untreated enzyme, but mannose is not an acceptor of Pi. Mannose is an acceptor, however, after treatment of microsomes with detergent. These data cannot be explained in terms of the currently accepted "compartmentation" model for the regulation of glucose-6-phosphatase. The detergent-induced changes in kinetic properties appear to reflect alterations in the intrinsic characteristics of glucose-6-phosphatase, which could result from interaction with its membrane environment.     

Glucose-6-phosphatase Activity in Copper-Deficient Rats

Copper deficiency has been reported to cause glucose intolerance in rats by interfering with normal glucose utilization. Accordingly, copper deficiency was produced in rats to study its effects on glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase and carbamyl-P: glucose phosphotransferase activities of hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.9), a major enzyme involved in maintaining glucose homeostasis. When measured in homogenates treated with deoxycholate, total glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase was 23% lower and total carbamyl-P:glucose phosphotransferase was 17% lower in copper-deficient rats compared to controls. Latency, or that portion of total activity that is not manifest unless the intact membranous components are disrupted with deoxycholate also was lower in copper-deficient rats. Glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase was 5% latent in copper-deficient rats compared to 24% in controls and carbamyl-P : glucose phosphotransferase was 55% latent in copper-deficient rats compared to 65% in controls. The decrease in latency appears to compensate for the lower total enzyme activities in such a manner as to allow the net expression of these activities in the intact membranous components of the homogenate to remain unaltered by copper deficiency. It thus appears unlikely that copper deficiency affects glucose homeostasis in vivo by altering the net rate of glucose-6-P hydrolysis or synthesis by glucose-6-phosphatase. These observations are interpreted on the basis of a multicomponent glucose-6-phosphatase system in which the total enzyme activity expressed in intact membranous preparation is limited by substrate specific translocases that transport substrate to the membrane-bound catalytic unit. A decrease in latency can then be interpreted as a functional increase in translocase activity and may constitute a compensating mechanism for maintaining constant glucose homeostasis when glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic activity is depressed as it is in copper deficiency.     

Kinetic and immunologic evidence for the absence of glucose-6-phosphatase in early human chorionic villi and term placenta.

The existence of the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) in early and term human placenta was investigated by comparing the characteristics of placental microsomal glucose 6-phosphate (G6P) hydrolytic activity and liver G6Pase. Placental microsomes exhibited similar apparent Km values for G6P and beta-glycerophosphate in intact and deoxycholate-treated microsomes, heat stability at acidic pH, low latency of mannose 6-phosphate hydrolysis, very low activity of pyrophosphate: glucose phosphotransferase, and undetectable [U-14C]G6P transport into the placental microsomes, all of which indicated that specific G6Pase activity does not exist in placenta. Immunological evidence of the absence of both 36.5 kDa and T2 proteins, which represent the G6Pase catalytic protein and the phosphate/pyrophosphate transporter protein, respectively, confirmed that early and term human placenta are devoid of the multicomponent G6Pase enzyme.     

Glucose phosphorylation and dephosphorylation in chicken liver.

1. Glucokinase was absent from chicken liver and only the low Km hexokinases, inhibited by AMP, ADP but not ATP, were present. 2. The Km of chicken liver glucose-6-phosphatase for glucose-6-phosphate was reduced from 5.65 to 3.75 mM following starvation, and the enzyme was inhibited by glucose. 3. Starvation of chickens for 24 hr slightly lowered the hexokinase activity and doubled glucose-6-phosphatase activity; it did not change subcellular distribution of the enzymes. Oral glucose rapidly restored the activities to fed values. 4. It was concluded that glucose uptake into, and efflux from, chicken hepatocytes, was regulated by the activity and kinetic characteristics of glucose-6-phosphatase and by the glucose-6-phosphate concentration, and that the hexokinases had little regulatory function.     

On the nature of the interaction between 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene 2,2'-disulfonic acid and microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase. Evidence for the involvement of sulfhydryl groups of the phosphohydrolase

The effect of 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene 2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS) on microsomal glucose 6-phosphate hydrolysis has been reinvestigated and characterized in order to elucidate the topological and functional properties of the interacting sites of the glucose-6-phosphatase. The studies were performed on microsomal membranes, partially purified and reconstituted glucose-6-phosphatase preparations and show the following. (a) DIDS inhibits activity of the glucose-6-phosphatase of native microsomes as well as the partially purified glucose-6-phosphatase. (b) Inhibition is reversed when the microsomes and the partially purified phosphohydrolase, incorporated into asolectin liposomes, are modified with Triton X-114. (c) Treatment of native microsomes with DIDS and the following purification of glucose-6-phosphatase from these labeled membranes leads to an enzyme preparation which is labeled and inhibited by DIDS. (d) Preincubation of native microsomes or partially purified glucose-6-phosphatase with a 3000-fold excess of glucose 6-phosphate cannot prevent the DIDS-induced inhibition. (e) Inhibition of glucose-6-phosphatase by DIDS is completely prevented when reactive sulfhydryl groups of the phosphohydrolase are blocked by p-mecuribenzoate. (f) Reactivation of enzyme activity is obtained when DIDS-labeled microsomes are incubated with 2-mercaptoethanol or dithiothreitol. Therefore, we conclude that inhibition of microsomal glucose 6-phosphate hydrolysis by DIDS cannot result from binding of this agent to a putative glucose-6-phosphate-carrier protein. Our results rather suggest that inhibition is caused by chemical modification of sulfhydryl groups of the integral phosphohydrolase accessible to DIDS attack itself. An easy interpretation of these results can be obtained on the basis of a modified conformational model representing the glucose-6-phosphatase as an integral channel-protein located within the hydrophobic interior of the microsomal membrane [Schulze et al. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 16,571-16,578].     

Hysteretic behavior of the hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase system.

Carbamyl-P:glucose and PPi:glucose phosphotransferase, but not inorganic pyrophosphatase, activities of the hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase system demonstrate a time-dependent lag in product production with 1 mM phosphate substrate. Glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase shows a similar behavior with [glucose-6-P] less than or equal to 0.10 mM, but inorganic pyrophosphatase activity does not even at the 0.05 or 0.02 mM level. The hysteretic behavior is abolished when the structural integrity of the microsomes is destroyed by detergent treatment. Calculations indicate that an intramicrosomal glucose-6-P concentration of between 20 and 40 microM must be achieved, whether in response to exogenously added glucose-6-P or via intramicrosomal synthesis by carbamyl-P:glucose or PPi:glucose phosphotransferase activity, before the maximally active form of the enzyme system is achieved. It is suggested that translocase T1, the transport component of the glucose-6-phosphatase system specific for glucose-6-P, is the target for activation by these critical intramicrosomal concentrations of glucose-6-P.     

Functional insights revealed by the crystal structures of Escherichia coli glucose-1-phosphatase

The Escherichia coli periplasmic glucose-1-phosphatase is a member of the histidine acid phosphatase family and acts primarily as a glucose scavenger. Previous substrate profiling studies have demonstrated some of the intriguing properties of the enzyme, including its unique and highly selective inositol phosphatase activity. The enzyme is also potentially involved in pathogenic inositol phosphate signal transduction pathways via type III secretion into the host cell. We have determined the crystal structure of E. coli glucose-1-phosphatase in an effort to unveil the structural mechanism underlying such unique substrate specificity. The structure was determined by the method of multiwavelength anomalous dispersion using a tungstate derivative together with the H18A inactive mutant complex structure with glucose 1-phosphate at 2.4-A resolution. In the active site of glucose-1-phosphatase, there are two unique gating residues, Glu-196 and Leu-24, in addition to the conserved features of histidine acid phosphatases. Together they create steric and electrostatic constraints responsible for the unique selectivity of the enzyme toward phytate and glucose-1-phosphate as well as its unusually high pH optimum for the latter. Based on the structural characterization, we were able to derive simple structural principles that not only precisely explains the substrate specificity of glucose-1-phosphatase and the hydrolysis products of various inositol phosphate substrates but also rationalizes similar general characteristics across the histidine acid phosphatase family.     

The microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase enzyme of pancreatic islets.

Microsomal fractions isolated from pancreatic islet cells were shown to contain high specific glucose-6-phosphatase activity. The islet-cell glucose-6-phosphatase enzyme has the same Mr (36,500), similar immunological properties and kinetic characteristics to the hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase enzyme.     

Different developmental changes in latency for two functions of a single membrane bound enzyme: glucose-6-phosphatase activities as a function of age.

(1). The capacity for the synthesis of glucose 6-phosphate from PPi and glucose as well as for glucose-6-P hydrolysis, catalyzed by rat liver microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase, increases rapidly from low prenatal levels to a maximum between the second and fifth day, then slowly decreases to reach adult levels. When measured in enzyme preparations optimally activated by hydroxyl ions, the maximum neonatal activities were 4--5-fold higher than in adult animals and several-fold higher than had previously been observed for the unactivated enzyme. (2) The latencies of two catalytic activities associated with the same membrane-bound enzyme show strikingly different age-related changes. The latency of PPi-glucose phosphotransferase activity reaches high levels (60--80% latent) soon after birth and remains high throughout life, while the latency of glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase decreases with age. The phosphohydrolase is 2--3 times more latent in the liver of the neonatal animal than in the adult. (3). The well established neonatal overshoot of liver glucose-6-phosphatase is almost entirely due to changes in the enzyme in the rough microsomal membranes. The enzyme activity in the rough membrane reaches a maximum and then decreases after day 2, while that in the smooth membrane is still slowly increasing. Despite the great differences in absolute specific activities and in the pattern of early enzyme development between the rough and smooth microsomes, enzyme latency in the two subfractions remains parallel, glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase being only slightly more latent, while PPi-glucose phospho-transferase is much more latent in smooth than in rough membranes throughout life. (4). Kidney glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase and PPi-glucose phosphotransferase activities were found to change in a parallel fashion with age, showing a small neonatal peak between days 2 and 7 before rising to adult levels. Kidney phosphotransferase activity, like that of liver, remained highly latent throughout life. In contrast to liver, the glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase of kidney did not show a characteristic decrease in latency with age and in the adult remained appreciably more latent than in liver. (5). An improved method was devised for the separation of smooth microsomes from liver homogenates.     

Calcium sequestration activity in rat liver microsomes. Evidence for a cooperation of calcium transport with glucose-6-phosphatase

Mechanisms regulating the energy-dependent calcium sequestering activity of liver microsomes were studied. The possibility for a physiologic mechanism capable of entrapping the transported Ca2+ was investigated. It was found that the addition of glucose 6-phosphate to the incubation system for MgATP-dependent microsomal calcium transport results in a marked stimulation of Ca2+ uptake. The uptake at 30 min is about 50% of that obtained with oxalate when the incubation is carried out at pH 6.8, which is the pH optimum for oxalate-stimulated calcium uptake. However, at physiological pH values (7.2-7.4), the glucose 6-phosphate-stimulated calcium uptake is maximal and equals that obtained with oxalate at pH 6.8. The Vmax of the glucose 6-phosphate-stimulated transport is 22.3 nmol of calcium/mg protein per min. The apparent Km for calcium calculated from total calcium concentrations is 31.9 microM. After the incubation of the system for MgATP-dependent microsomal calcium transport in the presence of glucose 6-phosphate, inorganic phosphorus and calcium are found in equal concentrations, on a molar base, in the recovered microsomal fraction. In the system for the glucose 6-phosphate-stimulated calcium uptake, glucose 6-phosphate is actively hydrolyzed by the glucose-6-phosphatase activity of liver microsomes. The latter activity is not influenced by concomitant calcium uptake. Calcium uptake is maximal when the concentration of glucose 6-phosphate in the system is 1-3 mM, which is much lower than that necessary to saturate glucose-6-phosphatase. These results are interpreted in the light of a possible cooperative activity between the energy-dependent calcium pump of liver microsomes and the glucose-6-phosphatase multicomponent system. The physiological implications of such a cooperation are discussed.     

The antihyperglycemic effect of estrone sulfate in genetically obese-diabetic (ob/ob) mice is associated with reduced hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase.

Excessive glucose production by the liver contributes significantly to diabetic hyperglycemia. The enzyme system glucose-6-phosphatase plays a key role in regulating hepatic glucose production and therefore its inhibition is a potential therapeutic target for the correction of hyperglycemia. It has previously been shown that sulfated steroids, such as estrone sulfate and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, inhibit the glucose-6-phosphatase system in vitro, principally through inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum glucose-6-phosphate transport. We report here that in the obese/diabetic ob/ob mouse model, orally administered estrone sulfate reduces the abnormally elevated hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase enzyme activity and enzyme protein levels that are characteristic in the ob/ob mouse, and that this reduction is associated with normalization of blood glucose levels. Other sulfated and non-sulfated steroids also reduced, to a lesser extent, glucose-6-phosphatase enzyme activity - with the exception of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, which had no apparent effect on this system in ob/ob mice. Estrone sulfate is therefore an effective antihyperglycemic agent in ob/ob mice, and the glucose-6-phosphatase system can be successfully targeted for the therapeutic management of hyperglycemia in this animal model of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.     

On the involvement of a glucose 6-phosphate transport system in the function of microsomal glucose 6-phosphatase

A model for microsomal glucose 6-phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.9) is presented. Glucose 6-phosphatase is postulated to be resultant of the coupling of two components of the microsomal membrane: 1) a glucose 6-phosphate - specific transport system which functions to shuttle the sugar phosphate from the cytoplasm to the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum; and 2) a catalytic component, glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase, bound to the luminal surface of the membrane. A large body of existing data was shown to be consistent with this hypothesis. In particular, the model reconciles well-documented differences in the kinetic properties of the enzyme of untreated and modified microsomal preparations. Characteristic responses of the enzyme to changes in nutritional and hormonal states may be attributed to adaptations which alter the relative capacities of the transport and catalytic components.     

Carbamyl phosphate: glucose phosphotransferase and glucose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase of nuclear membrane. Interrelationships between membrane integrity, enzymic latency, and catalytic behavior.

The presence of carbamyl-phosphate:glucose phosphotransferase in liver nuclei of five species of mammals and birds is demonstrated. The activity is confined to nuclear membranes and is due exclusively to multifunctional glucose-6-phosphatase-phosphotransferase (D-glucose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase; EC 3.1.3.9). The nuclear enzyme constitutes approximately 16 to 19 percent of total hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase-phosphotransferase. Carbamyl-phosphate:glucose phosphotransferase and glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase activities of membrane of chicken liver nuclei are shown to be catalytically identical with the maximally activated microsomal enzyme. A correspondence is seen in two-substrate kinetic double reciprocal plots, K-m or apparent K-m values for the various substrates, K-i values for the competitive inhibitors P-i and ATP, and pH-activity profiles. Comparative studies were carried out with various intact, disrupted, and detergent-dispersed membranous preparations by a combination of enzyme kinetic and electron microscopic techniques. It is concluded that (a) intimate interrelationships exists between catalytic behavior of this enzyme and morphological integrity of membranes of which the enzyme is a part; (b) activities of the enzyme of nuclear membrane appear quite available for physiological phosphorylative functions; and (c) interrelationships between membrane morphology and catalytic behavior of this membrane-bound enzyme may well be involved in the bioregulation of this complex, multifunctional enzyme system.     

A pH-metrical method of determining glucose-6-phosphatase activity

A simple, rapid, and reproducible method of determining glucose-6-phosphatase activity is described. The glucose 6-phosphate hydrolysis is accompanied by the disappearance of the protons from the medium owing to a phosphate species pK change from 6.1 (in glucose 6-phosphate) to 6.9 (in inorganic phosphate). Alkalization is registered by a pH meter with a recorder. The method described in this paper may be used in routine determinations of glucose-6-phosphatase activity.     

Interaction of mannose-6-phosphate with the hysteretic transition in glucose-6-phosphate hydrolysis in intact liver microsomes.

We showed previously that glucose-6-phosphatase activity was characterised in intact liver microsomes by a hysteretic transition between a rapid and a slower catalytic form of the enzyme. We have now further investigated the substrate specificity of these two kinetic forms. It was found that the pre-incubation of intact microsomes with mannose-6-phosphate or glucose-6-phosphate (50 microM for 30 s) suppressed the burst in glucose-6-phosphatase activity, that the hysteretic transition was reversible and that mannose-6-phosphate inhibited glucose-6-phosphate hydrolysis during the first seconds of incubation, but not anymore after the burst. Our results indicate (i) that mannose-6-phosphate is recognised by the enzyme and can promote the hysteretic transition and (ii) that the transient phase is part of the catalytic mechanism itself.     

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 multifunctional enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase (D-glucose-6-phosphate 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 Ki 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.     

Modulation of the activity of hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase by methylthioadenosine sulfoxide.

Methylthioadenosine sulfoxide (MTAS), an oxidized derivative of the cell toxic metabolite methylthioadenosine has been used in elucidating the relevance of an interrelationship between the catalytic behavior and the conformational state of hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase and in characterizing the transmembrane orientation of the integral unit in the microsomal membrane. The following results were obtained: (1) Glucose 6-phosphate hydrolysis at 37 degrees C is progressively inhibited when native microsomes are treated with MTAS at 37 degrees C. In contrast, glucose 6-phosphate hydrolysis of the same MTAS-treated microsomes assayed at 0 degrees C is not inhibited. (2) Subsequent modification of the MTAS-treated microsomes with Triton X-114 reveals that glucose-6-phosphatase assayed at 37 degrees C as well as at 0 degrees C is inhibited. (3) Although excess reagent is separated by centrifugation and the MTAS-treated microsomes diluted with buffer before being modified with Triton the temperature-dependent effect of MTAS on microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase is not reversed at all. (4) In native microsomes MTAS is shown to inhibit glucose-6-phosphatase noncompetitively. The subsequent Triton-modification of the MTAS-treated microsomes, however, generates an uncompetitive type of inhibition. (5) Preincubation of native microsomes with MTAS completely prevents the inhibitory effect of 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene 2,2'-disulfonate (DIDS) as well as 4,4'-diazidostilbene 2,2'-disulfonate (DASS) on glucose-6-phosphatase. (6) Low molecular weight thiols and tocopherol protect the microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase against MTAS-induced inhibition. (7) Glucose-6-phosphatase solubilized and partially purified from rat liver microsomes is also affected by MTAS in demonstrating the same temperature-dependent behavior as the enzyme of MTAS-treated and Triton-modified microsomes. From these results we conclude that MTAS modulates the enzyme catalytic properties of hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase by covalent modification of reactive groups of the integral protein accessible from the cytoplasmic surface of the microsomal membrane. The temperature-dependent kinetic behavior of MTAS-modulated glucose-6-phosphatase is interpreted by the existence of distinct catalytically active enzyme conformation forms. Detergent-induced modification of the adjacent hydrophobic microenvironment additionally generates alterations of the conformational state leading to changes of the kinetic characteristics of the integral enzyme.     

Galactose-1-Phosphatase in Rat Brain

A prominent galactose-1-phosphatase was isolated from rat brain and partially purified by chromatography on diethylaminoethyl-Sephacel, hydroxylapatite, and Sephacryl S-300 columns. The galactose-1-phosphatase was separated from alkaline phosphatase, and from two forms of glucose-1-phosphatase. The three columns gave a 10-fold increase in specific activity to 290 mol/min/mg of protein, with a yield of 15%. Of the eight sugar phosphates tested, galactose-1-phosphate was the best substrate for the purified enzyme, followed by glucose-1-phosphate, which was hydrolyzed 40% as rapidly as galactose-1-phosphate. Galactose-1-phosphatase had an optimum pH of 8.5 and a Km value of 2.5 mM for galactose-1-phosphate hydrolysis. Mg2+ was required for activity, and supported half-maximal activity at a concentration of 1.25 mM. Phosphate was the only potent inhibitor found ATP, arsenate, and vanadate caused moderate inhibition of 10 mM levels, whereas AMP, L-homoarginine, and L-phenylalanine stimulated enzyme activity. Galactose-1-phosphatase was determined to have a Stokes radius of 30 A and a sedimentation coefficient of 4.1S. These values were used to calculate a molecular weight of 50,200 and a frictional ratio showing the enzyme to be a globular protein. It is hypothesized that a similar phosphatase may play a role in reducing brain galactose-1-phosphate concentrations in patients with galactosemia.