Modification of uridine phosphorylase from Escherichia coli by diethyl pyrocarbonate. Evidence for a histidine residue in the active site of the enzyme.

Uridine phosphorylase from Escherichia coli is inactivated by diethyl pyrocarbonate at pH 7.1 and 10 degrees C with a second-order rate constant of 840 M-1.min-1. The rate of inactivation increases with pH, suggesting participation of an amino acid residue with pK 6.6. Hydroxylamine added to the inactivated enzyme restores the activity. Three histidine residues per enzyme subunit are modified by diethyl pyrocarbonate. Kinetic and statistical analyses of the residual enzymic activity, as well as the number of modified histidine residues, indicate that, among the three modifiable residues, only one is essential for enzyme activity. The reactivity of this histidine residue exceeded 10-fold the reactivity of the other two residues. Uridine, though at high concentration, protects the enzyme against inactivation and the very reactive histidine residue against modification. Thus it may be concluded that uridine phosphorylase contains only one histidine residue in each of its six subunits that is essential for enzyme activity.     

Identification of the essential histidine residue at the active site of Escherichia coli dehydroquinase.

The shikimate pathway enzyme 3-dehydroquinase is very susceptible to inactivation by the group-specific reagent diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEP). Inactivation follows pseudo first-order kinetics and exhibits a second-order rate constant of 148.5 M-1 min-1. An equilibrium mixture of substrate and product substantially protects against inactivation by DEP, suggesting that residues within the active site are being modified. Complete inactivation of the enzyme correlates with the modification of 6 histidine residues/subunit as determined by difference spectroscopy at 240 nm. Enzymic activity can be restored by hydroxylamine treatment, which is also consistent with the modification occurring at histidine residues. Using the kinetic method of Tsou (Tsou, C.-L. (1962) Sci. Sin. 11, 1535-1558), it was shown that modification of a single histidine residue leads to inactivation. Ligand protection experiments also indicated that 1 histidine residue was protected from DEP modification. pH studies show that the pKa for this inactivation is 6.18, which is identical to the single pKa determined from the pH/log Vmax profile for the enzyme. A single active site peptide was identified by differential peptide mapping in the presence and absence of ligand. This peptide was found to comprise residues 141-158; of the 2 histidines in this peptide (His-143 and His-146), only one, His-143, is conserved among all type I dehydroquinases. We propose that His-143 is the active site histidine responsible for DEP-mediated inactivation of dehydroquinase and is a good candidate for the general base that has been postulated to participate in the mechanism of this enzyme.     

Evidence for an essential histidine in neutral endopeptidase 24.11

Rat kidney neutral endopeptidase 24.11, "enkephalinase", was rapidly inactivated by diethyl pyrocarbonate under mildly acidic conditions. The pH dependence of inactivation revealed the modification of an essential residue with a pKa of 6.1. The reaction of the unprotonated group with diethyl pyrocarbonate exhibited a second-order rate constant of 11.6 M-1 s-1 and was accompanied by an increase in absorbance at 240 nm. Treatment of the inactivated enzyme with 50 mM hydroxylamine completely restored enzyme activity. These findings indicate histidine modification by diethyl pyrocarbonate. Comparison of the rate of inactivation with the increase in absorbance at 240 nm revealed a single histidine residue essential for catalysis. The presence of this histidine at the active site was indicated by (a) the protection of enzyme from inactivation provided by substrate and (b) the protection by the specific inhibitor phosphoramidon of one histidine residue from modification as determined spectrally. The dependence of the kinetic parameter Vmax/Km upon pH revealed two essential residues with pKa values of 5.9 and 7.3. It is proposed that the residue having a kinetic pKa of 5.9 is the histidine modified by diethyl pyrocarbonate and that this residue participates in general acid/base catalysis during substrate hydrolysis by neutral endopeptidase 24.11.     

Modification of histidine 56 in adrenodoxin with diethyl pyrocarbonate inhibited the interaction with cytochrome P-450scc and adrenodoxin reductase

Three histidine residues of bovine adrenodoxin, His-10, His-56, and His-62, were modified with diethyl pyrocarbonate. The order of the modification among the three histidines were monitored by measuring the proton NMR spectra. The modified adrenodoxin exhibited reduced affinity for adrenodoxin reductase as determined in cytochrome c reductase activity. In the presence of cholesterol, the modified adrenodoxin induced a high spin form of cytochrome P-450scc on complex formation in the same manner as native adrenodoxin. The spectral titration showed that adrenodoxin modified with diethyl pyrocarbonate exhibited a 5-fold higher Kd value than that of native adrenodoxin. These effects of the modification of adrenodoxin on the affinities for the redox partners were not proportional to the number of modified histidines determined by the optical absorbance change at 240 nm. Modification of adrenodoxin up to 2 histidine residues did not affect the affinity for the redox partners, but further modification on the third one resulted in an increase of apparent Km in cytochrome c reductase activity by 2-fold and of Kd for cytochrome P-450scc by 5-fold. The 1H NMR spectra of the modified adrenodoxin unequivocally demonstrated that histidine residues at His-10 and His-62 reacted more readily with diethyl pyrocarbonate than His-56 did, indicating that modification of His-56 was responsible for the reduction of binding affinities of adrenodoxin for redox partners. These results are consistent with the proposal that the residue of His-56 in adrenodoxin has an essential role in the electron transfer mechanism where adrenodoxin functions as a mobile shuttle.     

Nonessentiality of histidine 291 of Rhodospirillum rubrum ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase as determined by site-directed mutagenesis

Chemical modification of spinach ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase by diethyl pyrocarbonate led to the conclusion that His-298 is an essential active-site residue (Igarashi, Y., McFadden, B. A., and El-Gul, T. (1985) Biochemistry 24, 3957-3962). From the pH dependence of inactivation, the pKa of His-298 was observed to be approximately 6.8, and it was suggested that this histidine might be the essential base that initiates catalysis (Paech, C. (1985) Biochemistry 24, 3194-3199). To explore further the possible function of His-298, we have used site-directed mutagenesis to replace the corresponding residue of the Rhodospirillum rubrum carboxylase (His-291) with alanine. Assays of extracts of Escherichia coli JM107, harboring either the wild-type or mutant gene in an expression vector, revealed that the mutant protein is approximately 40% as active catalytically as the normal carboxylase. After purification to near homogeneity by immunoaffinity chromatography, the mutant protein was partially characterized with respect to subunit structure, kinetic parameters, and interaction with a transition-state analogue. The purified mutant carboxylase had a kcat of 1.5 s-1 and a kcat/Km of 1.7 X 10(4) M-1 s-1 in contrast to values of 3.6 s-1 and 6 X 10(5) M-1 s-1 for the normal enzyme. The high level of enzyme activity exhibited by the Ala-291 mutant excludes His-291 in the R. rubrum carboxylase (and by inference His-298 in the spinach carboxylase) as a catalytically essential residue.     

The histidine residues of phospholipase C from Bacillus cereus.

The inactivation of phospholipase C from Bacillus cereus at pH6 by diethyl pyrocarbonate parallelled the N-ethoxyformylation of a single histidine residue in the enzyme. The inactivation arose from a decrease in the maximum velocity of the enzymic reaction with no effect on the Km value. The inactivation did not apparently alter the ability of the enzyme to bind to a substrate-based affinity gel. The native enzyme contained only one reactive histidine residue. Removal of the two zinc atoms from the enzyme increased the number of reactive histidine residues to five, whereas in the totally denatured enzyme nearly eight such residues were available for reaction with diethyl pyrocarbonate. The enzyme thus appears to contain one histidine residue that is essential for catalytic activity and four that may be involved in co-ordinating the zinc atoms in the structure.     

Identification of structurally and functionally important histidine residues in cytoplasmic aspartyl-tRNA synthetase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Cytoplasmic aspartyl-tRNA synthetase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an alpha 2 dimer (alpha, Mr 63,000), each alpha containing 12 histidines. The covalent incorporation of 6-7 mol of diethyl pyrocarbonate per monomer corresponded to complete enzyme inactivation. This inactivation was reversed by hydroxylamine hydrolysis which regenerates free histidine (and tyrosine) while leaving the carbethoxy group still attached to the epsilon-amino group of lysine. Three histidines, one tyrosine, and four lysines were the main targets of the reagent. Site-directed mutagenesis was also tried to replace each of these modified residues. Given the unstability of the carbethoxy-imidazole bond, the nine histidines that were not modified by diethyl pyrocarbonate were mutated too. For these experiments, the enzyme was expressed in Escherichia coli by using a vector bearing the structural gene in which the first 13 codons were replaced by the first 14 of the CII lambda gene. This substitution had no effect on the kinetic parameters. The combined results of chemical modification and site-directed mutagenesis show that one histidine seems to be part of the active site while two others play an important structural role. On the other hand, labeled lysines and tyrosine are nonessential residues. These results are discussed in light of two recent articles establishing the existence of a second family of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases devoid of the HIGH and KMSKS consensus sequences and containing no Rossmann's domain in their three-dimensional structures.     

The role of histidines in the acetate kinase from Methanosarcina thermophila

The role of histidine in the catalytic mechanism of acetate kinase from Methanosarcina thermophila was investigated by diethylpyrocarbonate inactivation and site-directed mutagenesis. Inactivation was accompanied by an increase in absorbance at 240 nm with no change in absorbance at 280 nm, and treatment of the inactivated enzyme with hydroxylamine restored 95% activity, results that indicated diethylpyrocarbonate inactivates the enzyme by the specific modification of histidine. The substrates ATP, ADP, acetate, and acetyl phosphate protected against inactivation suggesting at least one active site where histidine is modified. Correlation of residual activity with the number of histidines modified, as determined by absorbance at 240 nm, indicated that a maximum of three histidines are modified per subunit, two of which are essential for full inactivation. Comparison of the M. thermophila acetate kinase sequence with 56 putative acetate kinase sequences revealed eight highly conserved histidines, three of which (His-123, His-180, and His-208) are perfectly conserved. Diethylpyrocarbonate inactivation of the eight histidine --> alanine variants indicated that His-180 and His-123 are in the active site and that the modification of both is necessary for full inactivation. Kinetic analyses of the eight variants showed that no other histidines are important for activity. Analysis of additional His-180 variants indicated that phosphorylation of His-180 is not essential for catalysis. Possible functions of His-180 are discussed.     

Modification of lactate oxidase with diethyl pyrocarbonate. Evidence for an active-site histidine residue

1. Diethyl pyrocarbonate inactivated l-lactate oxidase from Mycobacterium smegmatis. 2. Two histidine residues underwent ethoxycarbonylation when the enzyme was treated with sufficient reagent to abolish more than 90% of the enzyme activity, but analyses of the inactivation showed that the modification of one histidine residue was sufficient to cause the loss of enzyme activity. The rates of enzyme inactivation and histidine modification were the same. 3. Substrate and competitive inhibitors decreased the maximum extent of inactivation to a 50% loss of enzyme activity and modification was decreased from 1.9 to 0.75–1.2 histidine residues modified/molecule of FMN. 4. Treatment of the enzyme with diethyl [¹⁴C]pyrocarbonate (labelled in the carbonyl groups) confirmed that only histidine residues were modified under the conditions used and that deacylation of the ethoxycarbonylhistidine residues by hydroxylamine was concomitant with the removal of the ¹⁴C label and the re-activation of the enzyme. 5. No evidence was found for modification of tryptophan, tyrosine or cysteine residues, and no difference was detected between the conformation and subunit structure of the modified and native enzyme. 6. Modification of the enzyme with diethyl pyrocarbonate did not alter the following properties: the binding of competitive inhibitors, bisulphite and substrate or the chemical reduction of the flavin group to the semiquinone or fully reduced states. The normal reduction of the flavin by lactate was, however, abolished.     

A catalytic role for histidine 237 in rat mammary gland thioesterase II

The involvement of a histidyl residue in the catalytic mechanism of thioesterase II, a serine active-site enzyme that catalyzes the chain terminating reaction in de novo fatty acid synthesis, has been inferred from studies with the inhibitor diethyl pyrocarbonate. Its likely location has been predicted by identification of conserved residues in related thioesterases and ultimately confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis. Diethyl pyrocarbonate inactivated the enzyme with a second-order rate constant of 49 M-1 s-1 at pH 6, 10 degrees C. Data analysis indicated that although several residues reacted with the reagent, modification of a single residue was responsible for the inactivation. Removal of a single ethoxycarbonyl moiety by treatment with neutral hydroxylamine completely restored enzyme activity. Prior ethoxycarbonylation of the histidyl residue blocked the ability of the active-site serine to react with phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride. Comparison of the amino acid sequences of five structurally related proteins indicated that only 1 histidine has been completely conserved. Replacement of this residue in rat thioesterase II (His-237) with arginine and leucine by mutagenesis reduced the catalytic activity by 2-3 orders of magnitude. The activity of the mutant thioesterases, unlike that of the wild-type enzyme, was relatively insensitive to inhibition by diethyl pyrocarbonate and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. These studies provide strong evidence that His-237 is involved directly in catalysis and suggest that its role is to increase the nucleophilic character of the active-site Ser-101 by acting as a proton acceptor thus facilitating acylation of the seryl residue. The mechanism appears to share certain common features with the charge-relay system characteristic of other esterases.     

Studies of a reactive histidine of dyphosphopyridine nucleotide-linked isocitrate dehydrogenase from bovine heart.

Diphosphopyridine nucleotide-linked isocitrate dehydrogenase from bovine heart was inactivated at neutral pH by bromoacetate and diethyl pyrocarbonate and by photooxidation in the presence of methylene blue or rose bengal. Inactivation by diethyl pyrocarbonate was reversed by hydroxylamine. Loss of activity by photooxidation at pH 7.07 was accompanied by progressive destruction of histidine with time; loss of 83% of the enzyme activity was accompanied by modification of 1.1 histidyl residues per enzyme subunit. The pH-rate profiles of inactivation by photooxidation and by diethyl pyrocarbonate modification showed an inflection point around pH 6.6, in accord with the pK_a for a histidyl residue of a protein. Partial protection against inactivation by photooxidation or diethyl pyrocarbonate was obtained with substrate (manganous isocitrate or magnesium isocitrate) or ADP; the combination of substrate and ADP was more effective than the components singly. As demonstrated by differential enzyme activity assays between pH 6.4 and pH 7.5 with and without 0.67 mm ADP, modification of the reactive histidyl residue of the enzyme caused a preferential loss of the positive modulation of activity by ADP. The latter was particularly apparent when substrate partially protected the enzyme against inactivation by rose bengal-induced photooxidation.     

HlyC, the internal protein acyltransferase that activates hemolysin toxin: role of conserved histidine, serine, and cysteine residues in enzymatic activity as probed by chemical modification and site-directed mutagenesis

HlyC is an internal protein acyltransferase that activates hemolysin, a toxic protein produced by pathogenic Escherichia coli. Acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) is the essential acyl donor. Separately subcloned, expressed, and purified prohemolysin A (proHlyA), HlyC, and [1-14C]myristoyl-ACP have been used to study the conversion of proHlyA to HlyA [Trent, M. S., Worsham, L. M., and Ernst-Fonberg, M. L. (1998) Biochemistry 37, 4644-4655]. HlyC and hemolysin belong to a family of at least 13 toxins produced by Gram-negative bacteria. The homologous acyltransferases of the family show a number of conserved residues that are possible candidates for participation in acyl transfer. Specific chemical reagents and site-directed mutagenesis showed that neither the single conserved cysteine nor the three conserved serine residues were required for enzyme activity. Treatment with the reversible histidine-modifying diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC) inhibited acyltransferase activity, and acyltransferase activity was restored following hydroxylamine treatment. The substrate myristoyl-ACP protected HlyC from DEPC inhibition. These findings and spectral absorbance changes suggested that histidine, particularly a histidine proximal to the substrate binding site, was essential for enzyme activity. Site-directed mutageneses of the single conserved histidine residue, His23, to alanine, cysteine, or serine resulted in each instance in complete inactivation of the enzyme.     

Substrate-decreased modification by diethyl pyrocarbonate of two histidines in isocitrate lyase from Escherichia coli

The inactivation of tetrameric 188-kDa isocitrate lyase from Escherichia coli at pH 6.8 (37 degrees C) by diethyl pyrocarbonate, exhibiting saturation kinetics, is accompanied by modification of histidine residues 266 and 306. Substrates isocitrate, glyoxylate, or glyoxylate plus succinate protect the enzyme from inactivation, but succinate alone does not. Removal of the carbethoxy groups from inactivated enzyme by treatment with hydroxylamine restores activity of isocitrate lyase. The present results suggest that the group-specific modifying reagent diethyl pyrocarbonate may be generally useful in determining the position of active site histidine residues in enzymes.     

Identification of active-site residues of sheep liver serine hydroxymethyltransferase.

Chemical modification of amino acid residues with phenylglyoxal, N-ethylmaleimide and diethyl pyrocarbonate indicated that at least one residue each of arginine, cysteine and histidine were essential for the activity of sheep liver serine hydroxymethyltransferase. The second-order rate constants for inactivation were calculated to be 0.016 mM-1 X min-1 for phenylglyoxal, 0.52 mM-1 X min-1 for N-ethylmaleimide and 0.06 mM-1 X min-1 for diethyl pyrocarbonate. Different rates of modification of these residues in the presence and in the absence of substrates and the cofactor pyridoxal 5'-phosphate as well as the spectra of the modified protein suggested that these residues might occur at the active site of the enzyme.     

Role of histidine residues in EcoP15I DNA methyltransferase activity as probed by chemical modification and site-directed mutagenesis

Towards understanding the catalytic mechanism of M.EcoP15I [EcoP15I MTase (DNA methyltransferase); an adenine methyltransferase], we investigated the role of histidine residues in catalysis. M.EcoP15I, when incubated with DEPC (diethyl pyrocarbonate), a histidine-specific reagent, shows a time- and concentration-dependent inactivation of methylation of DNA containing its recognition sequence of 5'-CAGCAG-3'. The loss of enzyme activity was accompanied by an increase in absorbance at 240 nm. A difference spectrum of modified versus native enzyme shows the formation of N-carbethoxyhistidine that is diminished by hydroxylamine. This, along with other experiments, strongly suggests that the inactivation of the enzyme by DEPC was specific for histidine residues. Substrate protection experiments show that pre-incubating the methylase with DNA was able to protect the enzyme from DEPC inactivation. Site-directed mutagenesis experiments in which the 15 histidine residues in the enzyme were replaced individually with alanine corroborated the chemical modification studies and established the importance of His-335 in the methylase activity. No gross structural differences were detected between the native and H335A mutant MTases, as evident from CD spectra, native PAGE pattern or on gel filtration chromatography. Replacement of histidine with alanine residue at position 335 results in a mutant enzyme that is catalytically inactive and binds to DNA more tightly than the wild-type enzyme. Thus we have shown in the present study, through a combination of chemical modification and site-directed mutagenesis experiments, that His-335 plays an essential role in DNA methylation catalysed by M.EcoP15I.     

Identification of essential residues in 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase. Chemical modification and site-directed mutagenesis to investigate the role of cysteine and histidine residues in enzymatic activity

2',3'-Cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase (CNP; EC ) catalyzes in vitro hydrolysis of 3'-phosphodiester bonds in 2',3'-cyclic nucleotides to produce 2'-nucleotides exclusively. N-terminal deletion mapping of the C-terminal two-thirds of recombinant rat CNP1 identified a region that possesses the catalytic domain, with further truncations abolishing activity. Proteolysis and kinetic analysis indicated that this domain forms a compact globular structure and contains all of the catalytically essential features. Subsequently, this catalytic fragment of CNP1 (CNP-CF) was used for chemical modification studies to identify amino acid residues essential for activity. 5,5'-Dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) modification studies and kinetic analysis of cysteine CNP-CF mutants revealed the nonessential role of cysteines for enzymatic activity. On the other hand, modification studies with diethyl pyrocarbonate indicated that two histidines are essential for CNPase activity. Consequently, the only two conserved histidines, His-230 and His-309, were mutated to phenylalanine and leucine. All four histidine mutants had k(cat) values 1000-fold lower than wild-type CNP-CF, but K(m) values were similar. Circular dichroism studies demonstrated that the low catalytic activities of the histidine mutants were not due to gross changes in secondary structure. Taken together, these results demonstrate that both histidines assume critical roles for catalysis.     

Chemical modification of chalcone isomerase by diethyl pyrocarbonate: histidine residues are not essential for catalysis

Chalcone isomerase form soybean is inactivated by treatment with diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEP). The competitive inhibitor 4',4-dihydroxychalcone provides kinetic protection against inactivation by DEP with a binding constant at the site of protection in agreement with its binding constant at the active site. Very high concentrations of the competitive inhibitors 4',4-dihydroxychalcone or morin hydrate offer a 10- to 40-fold maximal protection, suggesting a second slower mechanism for inactivation which cannot be prevented by blockage of the active site. Blockage of the only cysteine residue in chalcone isomerase with p-mercuribenzoate does not affect the rate constant for DEP-dependent inactivation and indicates that the modification of the cysteine residue is not responsible for the activity loss observed in the presence of DEP. Treatment of inactivated enzyme with hydroxylamine does not restore catalytic activity, indicating that the modification of histidine or tyrosine residues is not responsible for the activity loss. All five histidines of chalcone isomerase are modified by DEP at pH 5.7 and ionic strength 1.0 M. The rate constant for the modification of the histidine residues of chalcone isomerase is close to that for the reaction of N-acetyl histidine with DEP, indicating that the histidine residues are quite accessible to the modifying reagent. The rate of histidine modification is the same in native enzyme, in urea-denatured enzyme, and in the presence of a competitive inhibitor. In the presence of the competitive inhibitor morin hydrate, all of the histidine residues of chalcone isomerase can be modified without significant loss in catalytic activity. These results demonstrate that the histidine residues of chalcone isomerase are not essential for catalysis and therefore cannot function as nucleophilic catalysts as previously proposed.     

Evidence for the presence of a critical histidine residue at the active site in glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells

Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cell glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GA3PD) (EC. 1.2.1.12) was completely inactivated by diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC), a fairly specific reagent for histidine residues in the pH range of 6.0-7.5. The rate of inactivation was dependent on pH and followed pseudo-first order reaction kinetics. The difference spectrum of the inactivated and native enzymes showed an increase in the absorption maximum at 242 nm, indicating the modification of histidine residues. Statistical analysis of the residual enzyme activity and the extent of modification indicated modification of one essential histidine residue to be responsible for loss of the catalytic activity of EAC cell GA3PD. DEPC inactivation was protected by substrates, D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate and NAD, indicating the presence of essential histidine residue at the substrate-binding region of the active site. Double inhibition studies also provide evidence for the presence of histidine residue at the active site.     

Evidence for an essential histidine residue in 4S-limonene synthase and other terpene cyclases.

(4S)-Limonene synthase, isolated from glandular trichome secretory cell preparations of Mentha x piperita (peppermint) leaves, catalyzes the metal ion-dependent cyclization of geranyl pyrophosphate, via 3S-linalyl pyrophosphate, to (-)-(4S)-limonene as the principal product. Treatment of this terpene cyclase with the histidine-directed reagent diethyl pyrocarbonate at a concentration of 0.25 mM resulted in 50% loss of enzyme activity, and this activity could be completely restored by treatment of the preparation with 5 mM hydroxylamine. Inhibition with diethyl pyrocarbonate was distinguished from inhibition with thiol-directed reagents by protection studies with histidine and cysteine carried out at varying pH. Inactivation of the cyclase by dye-sensitized photooxidation in the presence of rose bengal gave further indication of the presence of a readily modified histidine residue. Protection of the enzyme against inhibition with diethyl pyrocarbonate was afforded by the substrate geranyl pyrophosphate in the presence of Mn2+, and by the sulfonium ion analog of the linalyl carbocation intermediate of the reaction in the presence of inorganic pyrophosphate plus Mn2+, suggesting that an essential histidine residue is located at or near the active site. Similar studies on the inhibition of other monoterpene and sesquiterpene cyclases with diethyl pyrocarbonate suggest that a histidine residue (or residues) may play an important role in catalysis by this class of enzymes.     

Diethyl pyrocarbonate reaction with the lactose repressor protein affects both inducer and DNA binding

Modification of the lactose repressor protein of Escherichia coli with diethyl pyrocarbonate (DPC) results in decreased inducer binding as well as operator and nonspecific DNA binding. Spectrophotometric measurements indicated a maximum of three histidines per subunit was modified, and quantitation of lysine residues with trinitrobenzenesulfonate revealed the modification of one lysine residue. The loss of DNA binding, both operator and nonspecific, was correlated with histidine modification; removal of the carbethoxy groups from the histidines by hydroxylamine was accompanied by significant recovery of DNA binding function. The presence of inducing sugars during the DPC reaction had no effect on histidine modification or the loss of DNA binding activity. In contrast, inducer binding was not recovered upon reversal of the histidine modification. However, the presence of inducer during reaction protected lysine from reaction and also prevented the decrease in inducer binding; these results indicate that reaction of the lysine residue(s) may correlate to the loss of sugar binding activity. Since no difference in incorporation of radiolabeled carbethoxy was observed following reaction with diethyl pyrocarbonate in the presence or absence of inducer, the reagent appears to function as a catalyst in the modification of the lysine. The formation of an amide bond between the affected lysine and a nearby carboxylic acid moiety provides a possible mechanism for the activity loss. Reaction of the isolated NH2-terminal domain resulted in loss of DNA binding with modification of the single histidine at position 29. Results from the modification of core domain paralleled observations with intact repressor.