A kinetic study of rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase

The paper reports a study of the kinetics of the reaction between phosphoenolpyruvate, ADP and Mg(2+) catalysed by rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase. The experimental results indicate that the reaction mechanism is equilibrium random-order in type, that the substrates and products are phosphoenolpyruvate, ADP, Mg(2+), pyruvate and MgATP, and that dead-end complexes, between pyruvate, ADP and Mg(2+), form randomly and exist in equilibrium with themselves and other substrate complexes. Values were determined for the Michaelis, dissociation and inhibition constants of the reaction and are compared with values ascertained by previous workers.     

Purification and characterization of human muscle pyruvate kinase.

The M1 isozyme of pyruvate kinase has been purified from human psoas muscle in a seven-step procedure. Fractionation by ammonium sulfate precipitation, heat treatment, acetone precipitation, diethylaminoethyl cellulose batchwise treatment followed by chromatography on carboxymethyl cellulose and Sephadex G-200 gave a product with a specific activity of 383 U/mg representing a 294-fold purification with a yield of 11%. The product formed orthorhombic crystals and was homogeneous on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with and without sodium dodecyl sulfate, sedimentation velocity, sedimentation equilibrium, and immunodiffusion. The purified enzyme has a molecular weight of 240700 and has a sedimentation coefficient (S20,W) of 10.04S. It contains four subunits with identical molecular weights of 61000. No free N-terminal amino acids could be detected. Antibody prepared against the purified human M1 isozyme does not cross-react by immunodiffusion or enzyme inactivation with the human erythrocyte isozyme and in the reverse experiment antibody prepared against human erythrocyte pyruvate kinase does not cross-react with the purified M1 isozyme. The amino acid composition of the M1 isozyme is presented.     

Automated kinetic analysis of pyruvate kinase

An apparatus for the automatic determination of enzyme kinetics of pyruvate kinase is described. A continuous plit of velocity versus substrate concentration is obtained using quantities of enzyme and substrates comparable to manual determinations. The automated procedure offers a number of advantages over manual methods including elimination of repetitive pipetting, simpler reaction temperature regulation, reduced analysis time, and possible on-line computer analysis. The apparatus utilizes a commercially available column uv flow monitor to measure NADH/NAD changes in the coupled lactic dehydrogenase reaction at 340 nm in a continuous flow system. The optical density changes are directly related to the velocity of the enzyme-catalyzed reaction. A linear substrate gradient is generated from a density gradient maker to provide the required relationship between velocity and substrate concentration. The system is calibrated by forming a gradient from a hemoglobin solution of known concentration. The procedure has been evaluated by determination of the kinetic parameters of three of the isozymes of pyruvate kinase. Values obtained by the continuous flow method are in close agreement with those obtained by individual point determination in a recording spectrophotometer.     

Functional analysis, overexpression, and kinetic characterization of pyruvate kinase from Plasmodium falciparum

The important role of pyruvate kinase during malarial infection has prompted the cloning of a cDNA encoding Plasmodium falciparum pyruvate kinase (pfPyrK), using mRNA from intraerythrocytic-stage malaria parasites. The full-length cDNA encodes a protein with a computed molecular weight of 55.6 kDa and an isoelectric point of 7.5. The purified recombinant pfPyrK is enzymatically active and exists as a homotetramer in its active form. The enzyme exhibits hyperbolic kinetics with respect to phosphoenolpyruvate and ADP, with K(m) of 0.19 and 0.12 mM, respectively. pfPyrK is not affected by fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, a general activating factor of pyruvate kinase for most species. Glucose-6-phosphate, an activator of the Toxoplasma gondii enzyme, does not affect pfPyrK activity. Similar to rabbit pyruvate kinase, pfPyrK is susceptible to inactivation by 1mM pyridoxal-5'-phosphate, but to a lesser extent. A screen for inhibitors to pfPyrK revealed that it is markedly inhibited by ATP and citrate. Detailed kinetic analysis revealed a transition from hyperbolic to sigmoidal kinetics for PEP in the presence of citrate, as well as competitive inhibitory behavior for ATP with respect to PEP. Citrate exhibits non-competitive inhibition with respect to ADP with a K(i) of 0.8mM. In conclusion, P. falciparum expresses an active pyruvate kinase during the intraerythrocytic-stage of its developmental cycle that may play important metabolic roles during infection.     

The structure of cat muscle pyruvate kinase.

The complete amino acid sequence of cat muscle pyruvate kinase has been determined and fitted to the 2.6 A resolution electron density map. Residues in the active site region are highly conserved in the cat muscle, chicken muscle, rat liver and yeast enzymes. The enzyme-bound magnesium, which is essential for activity, interacts with the side chain of glutamate-271 and with two main carbonyl groups. Lysine-269 is the probable acid/base catalyst responsible for the interconversion of pyruvate and enolpyruvate. A possible binding site for the essential monovalent cation is proposed.     

Partial purification and characterization of pyruvate kinase from the plant fraction of soybean root nodules

Pyruvate kinase (PK, EC 2.7.1.40) was partially purified from the plant cytosolic fraction of N₂-fixing soybean ( Glycine max [L.] Merr.) root nodules. The partially purified PK preparation was completely free of contamination by phospho enol pyruvate carboxylase (PEPC, EC 4.1.1.31), the other major phospho enol pyruvate (PEP)-utilizing enzyme in legume root nodules. Latency experiments with sonicated nodule extracts showed that Bradyrhizobium japonicum bacteroids do not express either PK or PEPC activity in symbiosis. In contrast, free-living B. japonicum bacteria expressed PK activity, but not PEPC activity. Antibodies specific for the cytosolic isoform of PK from castor bean endosperm cross-reacted with a 52-kDa polypeptide in the partially purified PK preparation. At the optimal assay pH (pH 8.0 for PEPC and pH 6.9 for PK) and in the absence of malate, PEPC activity in crude nodule extracts was 2.6 times the corresponding PK activity. This would tend to favour PEP metabolism by PEPC over PEP metabolism by PK. However, at pH 7.0 in the presence of 5 m M malate, PEPC activity was strongly inhibited, but PK activity was unaffected. Thus, we propose that PK and PEPC activity in legume root nodules may be coordinately regulated by fluctuations in malate concentration in the plant cytosolic fraction of the bacteroid-containing cells. Reduced uptake of malate by the bacteroids, as a result of reduced rates of N₂ fixation, may favour PEP metabolism by PK over PEP metabolism by PEPC.     

Thermodynamic linkages in rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase: kinetic, equilibrium, and structural studies

The mechanism of allosteric regulation of rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase (PK) was examined in the presence of the allosteric inhibitor phenylalanine (Phe). Steady-state kinetic, equilibrium binding, and structural studies were conducted to provide a broad data base to establish a reasonable model for the interactions. Phe was shown to induce apparent cooperativity in the steady-state kinetic measurements at pH 7.5 and 23 degrees C. The apparent Km for phosphoenolpyruvate was shown to increase with increasing Phe concentrations. These results imply that Phe reduces the affinity of PK for phosphoenolpyruvate. This conclusion was substantiated by equilibrium binding studies which yielded association constants of phosphoenolpyruvate as a function of Phe concentration. The binding constant of Phe was also determined at pH 7.0 and 23 degrees C. The effect of ligands on the hydrodynamic properties of PK was monitored by difference sedimentation velocity, sedimentation velocity, and equilibrium experiments. The results showed that PK remains tetrameric both in the presence and in the absence of Phe. However, Phe induces a small decrease in the sedimentation coefficient of the enzyme; hence, it suggests a loosening of the protein structure. The accessibility of the sulfhydryl residues of the enzyme also increases in the presence of Phe. Furthermore, the Phe-induced conformational change was approximately 90% complete when only 25% of the binding sites were saturated. This result suggested that the regulatory behavior of PK might satisfactorily be described by the two-state model of Monod-Wyman-Changeux [Monod, J., Wyman, J., & Changeux, J.-P. (1965) J. Mol. Biol. 12, 88-118].     

L-Phenylalanine inhibition of muscle pyruvate kinase

The allosteric inhibition of M_l-type pyruvate kinase from rabbit skeletal muscle by phenylalanine is reciprocally dependent on Mg²⁺ and phosphoenolpyruvate concentrations . At pH 8, phenylalanine acts as a competitive inhibitor with respect to Mg²⁺ and phosphoenolpyruvate, and vice versa. Phenylalanine introduces sigmoidicity into the dependence of the reaction velocity on [Mg²⁺]. In vitro kinetic analysis indicates that phenylalanine inhibition of muscle pyruvate kinase is unlikely to have regulatory significance in vivo.     

The refolding of denatured rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase.

The refolding of rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase after denaturation by guanidine hydrochloride was studied. On dilution of the denaturing agent, enzyme activity is only partially regained. The extent of regain of activity is dependent on protein concentration, showing a marked decrease at higher concentrations. The failure to regain complete activity appears to be related to the formation of inactive aggregates, which can be separated from active enzyme by gel filtration. Insoluble aggregates can be partially re-activated after solubilization in guanidine hydrochloride. Changes in the circular-dichroism and fluorescence spectra during refolding suggest that a partially folded, inactive species is formed rapidly; this differs from native enzyme in being more susceptible to proteolysis by trypsin.     

Functional analysis, overexpression, and kinetic characterization of pyruvate kinase from Plasmodium falciparum

The important role of pyruvate kinase during malarial infection has prompted the cloning of a cDNA encoding Plasmodium falciparum pyruvate kinase (pfPyrK), using mRNA from intraerythrocytic-stage malaria parasites. The full-length cDNA encodes a protein with a computed molecular weight of 55.6 kDa and an isoelectric point of 7.5. The purified recombinant pfPyrK is enzymatically active and exists as a homotetramer in its active form. The enzyme exhibits hyperbolic kinetics with respect to phosphoenolpyruvate and ADP, with K_m of 0.19 and 0.12 mM, respectively. pfPyrK is not affected by fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, a general activating factor of pyruvate kinase for most species. Glucose-6-phosphate, an activator of the Toxoplasma gondii enzyme, does not affect pfPyrK activity. Similar to rabbit pyruvate kinase, pfPyrK is susceptible to inactivation by 1 mM pyridoxal-5′-phosphate, but to a lesser extent. A screen for inhibitors to pfPyrK revealed that it is markedly inhibited by ATP and citrate. Detailed kinetic analysis revealed a transition from hyperbolic to sigmoidal kinetics for PEP in the presence of citrate, as well as competitive inhibitory behavior for ATP with respect to PEP. Citrate exhibits non-competitive inhibition with respect to ADP with a K_i of 0.8 mM. In conclusion, P. falciparum expresses an active pyruvate kinase during the intraerythrocytic-stage of its developmental cycle that may play important metabolic roles during infection.     

Regulation of heart muscle pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase

1. The activity of pig heart pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase was assayed by the incorporation of [(32)P]phosphate from [gamma-(32)P]ATP into the dehydrogenase complex. There was a very close correlation between this incorporation and the loss of pyruvate dehydrogenase activity with all preparations studied. 2. Nucleoside triphosphates other than ATP (at 100mum) and cyclic 3':5'-nucleotides (at 10mum) had no significant effect on kinase activity. 3. The K(m) for thiamin pyrophosphate in the pyruvate dehydrogenase reaction was 0.76mum. Sodium pyrophosphate, adenylyl imidodiphosphate, ADP and GTP were competitive inhibitors against thiamin pyrophosphate in the dehydrogenase reaction. 4. The K(m) for ATP of the intrinsic kinase assayed in three preparations of pig heart pyruvate dehydrogenase was in the range 13.9-25.4mum. Inhibition by ADP and adenylyl imidodiphosphate was predominantly competitive, but there was nevertheless a definite non-competitive element. Thiamin pyrophosphate and sodium pyrophosphate were uncompetitive inhibitors against ATP. It is suggested that ADP and adenylyl imidodiphosphate inhibit the kinase mainly by binding to the ATP site and that the adenosine moiety may be involved in this binding. It is suggested that thiamin pyrophosphate, sodium pyrophosphate, adenylyl imidodiphosphate and ADP may inhibit the kinase by binding through pyrophosphate or imidodiphosphate moieties at some site other than the ATP site. It is not known whether this is the coenzyme-binding site in the pyruvate dehydrogenase reaction. 5. The K(m) for pyruvate in the pyruvate dehydrogenase reaction was 35.5mum. 2-Oxobutyrate and 3-hydroxypyruvate but not glyoxylate were also substrates; all three compounds inhibited pyruvate oxidation. 6. In preparations of pig heart pyruvate dehydrogenase free of thiamin pyrophosphate, pyruvate inhibited the kinase reaction at all concentrations in the range 25-500mum. The inhibition was uncompetitive. In the presence of thiamin pyrophosphate (endogenous or added at 2 or 10mum) the kinase activity was enhanced by low concentrations of pyruvate (25-100mum) and inhibited by a high concentration (500mum). Activation of the kinase reaction was not seen when sodium pyrophosphate was substituted for thiamin pyrophosphate. 7. Under the conditions of the kinase assay, pig heart pyruvate dehydrogenase forms (14)CO(2) from [1-(14)C]pyruvate in the presence of thiamin pyrophosphate. Previous work suggests that the products may include acetoin. Acetoin activated the kinase reaction in the presence of thiamin pyrophosphate but not with sodium pyrophosphate. It is suggested that acetoin formation may contribute to activation of the kinase reaction by low pyruvate concentrations in the presence of thiamin pyrophosphate. 8. Pyruvate effected the conversion of pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphate into pyruvate dehydrogenase in rat heart mitochondria incubated with 5mm-2-oxoglutarate and 0.5mm-l-malate as respiratory substrates. It is suggested that this effect of pyruvate is due to inhibition of the pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase reaction in the mitochondrion. 9. Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase activity was inhibited by high concentrations of Mg(2+) (15mm) and by Ca(2+) (10nm-10mum) at low Mg(2+) (0.15mm) but not at high Mg(2+) (15mm).     

Kinetic properties of human muscle pyruvate kinase

Summary The steady-state kinetics of human skeletal muscle pyruvate kinase (M_A) and its RNA-complex (M_B) has been examined and compared. Kinetic studies revealed significant differences in kinetic properties with respect to free and complex form of pyruvate kinase.The M_A form follows a simple Michaelis-Menten kinetics in contrast with the M_B form, which displays a negative cooperativity with respect to ADP. V_max for the complex is 40–60% that for free enzyme. Heterologous RNA is a noncompetitive inhibitor of free enzyme but the kinetics of the complex (M_B) is not affected.In presence of 1.0 mM ATP in an assay mixture the kinetic constants of the complex were unchanged except for V_max, which increased by nearly 60%. Aged preparations of free enzyme (M_A) were activated by 100% and more, but the native enzyme was inhibited by 22%.Inorganic phosphate is a potent activator of both forms of pyruvate kinase. In presence of 50 mM K-phosphate the apparent Michaelis constant and interaction coefficient are unchanged, but V_max for free enzyme increases by 35% and for the complex by 70%, respectively. The specific activity of aged M_A form can be restored to the original value after incubation of the enzyme in 50 mM K-phosphate, pH 7.6, or by addition of ATP (1.0 mM) to the assay mixture.