alpha-Ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli. A hybrid complex containing pyruvate dehydrogenase subunits from pyruvate dehydrogenase complex

The alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli utilizes pyruvate as a poor substrate, with an activity of 0.082 units/mg of protein compared with 22 units/mg of protein for alpha-ketoglutarate. Pyruvate fully reduces the FAD in the complex and both alpha-keto[5-14C]glutarate and [2-14C]pyruvate fully [14C] acylate the lipoyl groups with approximately 10 nmol of 14C/mg of protein, corresponding to 24 lipoyl groups. NADH-dependent succinylation by [4-14C]succinyl-CoA also labels the enzyme with approximately 10 nmol of 14C/mg of protein. Therefore, pyruvate is a true substrate. However, the pyruvate and alpha-ketoglutarate activities exhibit different thiamin pyrophosphate dependencies. Moreover, 3-fluoropyruvate inhibits the pyruvate activity of the complex without affecting the alpha-ketoglutarate activity, and 2-oxo-3-fluoroglutarate inhibits the alpha-ketoglutarate activity without affecting the pyruvate activity. 3-Fluoro[1,2-14C]pyruvate labels about 10% of the E1 components (alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenases). The dihydrolipoyl transsuccinylase-dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase subcomplex (E2E3) is activated as a pyruvate dehydrogenase complex by addition of E. coli pyruvate dehydrogenase, the E1 component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. All evidence indicates that the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex purified from E. coli is a hybrid complex containing pyruvate dehydrogenase (approximately 10%) and alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (approximately 90%) as its E1 components.     

Characterization of the inhibition of Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex by pyruvate

The E. coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex was inhibited by pyruvate in absence of its cofactor, NAD+. The inhibition was found to increase with pH and phosphate concentration of the buffer and decrease with its ionic strength. The inhibition profile was different with MOPS buffer. No radioactivity was found in the enzyme, when the latter was incubated with 2-14C-pyruvate. The results suggest that covalent adduct formation is not necessary for the observed inhibition.     

Fluorescent derivatives of the pyruvate dehydrogenase component of the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.

One sulfhydryl group per polypeptide chain of the pyruvate dehydrogenase component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex from Escherichia coli was selectively labeled with N-[P-(2-benzoxazoyl)phenyl]-maleimide (NBM), 4-dimethylamino-4-magnitude of-maleimidostilbene (NSM), and N-(4-dimethylamino-3,5-dinitrophenyl)maleimide (DDPM) in 0.05 M potassium phosphate (pH 7). Modification of the sulfhydryl group did not alter the enzymatic activity or the binding of 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonate (ANS) or thiochrome diphosphate to the enzyme. The fluorescence of the NBM or NSM coupled to the sulfhydryl group on the enzyme was quenched by binding to the enzyme of the substrate pyruvate the coenzyme thiamine diphosphate, the coenzyme analogue thiochrome diphosphate, the regulatory ligands acetyl-CoA, GTP, and phosphoenolpyruvate, and the acetyl-CoA analogue, ANS. Fluorescence energy transfer measurements were carried out for the enzyme-bound donor-acceptor pairs NBM-ANS, NBM-thiochrome diphosphate ANS-DDPM, and thiochrome diphosphate-DDM. The results indicate that the modified sulfhydryl group is more than 40 A from the active site and approximately 49 A from the acetyl-CoA regulatory site. Thus, a conformational change must accompany the binding of ligands to the regulatory and catalytic sites. Anisotropy depolarization measurements with ANS bound on the isolated pyruvate dehydrogenase in 0.05 M potassium phosphate (pH 7.0) suggest that under these conditions the enzyme is dimeric.     

The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli K12. Nucleotide sequence encoding the pyruvate dehydrogenase component

The nucleotide sequence of a 3780-base-pair segment of DNA containing the aceE gene encoding the pyruvate dehydrogenase component (E1) of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli, has been determined by the dideoxy chain-termination method. The aceE structural gene comprises 2655 base pairs (885 codons, excluding the initiation codon AUG), it is preceded by a good ribosome binding site and several potential RNA polymerase binding sites. Its polarity and location in the restriction map of the corresponding segment of DNA are consistent with it being the proximal gene in the ace operon, as defined in previous genetic and post-infection labelling studies. The relative molecular mass (99474), composition (885 amino acids), amino-terminal residue and carboxy-terminal sequence predicted from the nucleotide sequence are in excellent agreement with published information obtained from studies with the purified pyruvate dehydrogenase component (E1). The nucleotide sequence also contains a second gene (gene A) situated upstream of the aceE gene. It appears to be an independent gene containing 708 base pairs (236 codons) and encoding a weakly expressed product (protein A; Mr = 27049) of unknown function.     

Tellurite-induced carbonylation of the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex

The soluble tellurium oxyanion, tellurite, is toxic for most organisms. At least in part, tellurite toxicity involves the generation of oxygen-reactive species which induce an oxidative stress status that damages different macromolecules with DNA, lipids and proteins as oxidation targets. The objective of this work was to determine the effects of tellurite exposure upon the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) complex. The complex displays two distinct enzymatic activities: pyruvate dehydrogenase that oxidatively decarboxylates pyruvate to acetylCoA and tellurite reductase, which reduces tellurite (Te⁴⁺) to elemental tellurium (Te^o). PDH complex components (AceE, AceF and Lpd) become oxidized upon tellurite exposure as a consequence of increased carbonyl group formation. When the individual enzymatic activities from each component were analyzed, AceE and Lpd did not show significant changes after tellurite treatment. AceF activity (dihydrolipoil acetyltransferase) decreased ~30% when cells were exposed to the toxicant. Finally, pyruvate dehydrogenase activity decreased >80%, while no evident changes were observed in complex′s tellurite reductase activity.     

Rotational diffusion of eosin-labeled pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli

The enzymatically reduced lipoyl residues of the transacetylase component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex from Escherichia coli were labeled with eosin maleimide. Using eosin as triplet probe, triplet-triplet absorption dichroism measurements were performed to obtain rotational correlation times of the complex in the microsecond time domain. It was found that the hydrodynamic properties determined from the correlation times are in very good agreement with those obtained with other methods of different origin. The results can be fully explained by eosin molecules rotating with the whole complex, which consists of a mixture of heavy (60 S) and light (20 S) particles. Since no independent mobility could be detected it is suggested that the (charged) chromophoric group is folded against the protein surface. Labeling with excess eosin maleimide tends to destabilize the complex, since the longer correlation time (60 S) decreases and the contribution of the shorter correlation time (20 S) becomes more significant upon labeling.     

Limited proteolysis of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli.

The hydrogenase from Paracoccus denitrificans, which is an intrinsic membrane protein, has been solubilised from membranes by Triton X-100. The partial specific volume of the solubilised protein has been determined using sucrose density gradient centrifugation in H2O and 2H2O. The values of the specific volumes of hydrogenase, measured in the presence or absence of Triton X-100, are 0.73 and 0.74 ml . g-1, respectively, indicating that hydrogenase binds much less than one micelle of Triton X-100. The sedimentation coefficient of hydrogenase is increased from 10.4 S to 15.9 S on removal of detergent. The Stokes' radius of hydrogenase, determined by gel filtration on Sepharose 6B, is 5.5 nm in the presence of Triton X-100 compared to 6.7 nm in the absence of detergent. The apparent molecular weight therefore increases from 242,500 to 466,000 on removal of detergent. In the presence of urea and sodium dodecylsulphate, the hydrogenase has an apparent molecular weight of 63,000. The enzyme therefore behaves as a non-covalently linked tetramer in the presence of Triton X-100. Removal of Triton X-100 results in association of tetramers to form octamers.     

Mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 which synthesize the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex constitutively

Regulatory mutants of E. coli which synthesize the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex constitutively can be selected in strains lacking phosphoenol pyruvate synthase by taking advantage of the regulatory properties of the glyoxylate cycle operon. Constitutivity can lead to production of still more pyruvate dehydrogenase complex than has been found before as “fully-induced” synthesis; in one constitutive mutant about 5% of the total soluble protein is enzyme complex. The altered regulatory element in all nine mutants is closely linked to the structural genes for the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. There does not appear to be a common regulatory element involved in the control of glyoxylate cycle enzymes and pyruvate dehydrogenase synthesis. Both systems share only the same effector, pyruvate, which represses the synthesis of glyoxylate cycle enzymes and induces that of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.     

Repeating functional domains in the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli.

Each polypeptide chain in the lipoate acetyltransferase (E2) core of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex from Escherichia coli contains three repeating sequences in the N-terminal half of the molecule. The repeats are highly homologous in primary structure and each includes a lysine residue that is a potential site for lipoylation. We have shown that all three sites are lipoylated, at least in part, and that the three lipoylated segments of the E2 chain can be isolated as distinct functional domains after limited proteolysis. Each domain becomes partly acetylated in the intact complex in the presence of substrate. In the primary structure, the domains are separated by regions of polypeptide chain oddly rich in alanine and proline residues. These regions are probably the conformationally mobile segments observed in the 1H-n.m.r. spectrum of the complex and which are removed by tryptic cleavage at Lys-316. The C-terminal half of the molecule contains the acetyltransferase active site and the binding sites for E1, E3 and other E2 subunits. The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of E. coli, which has a heterogeneous quaternary structure, is thus far unique among the 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase complexes in possessing more than one lipoyl domain per E2 chain, but this may be a general feature of the enzyme from Gram-negative organisms.     

Dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase mutation alters the NADH sensitivity of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli K-12

Under anaerobic growth conditions, an active pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) is expected to create a redox imbalance in wild-type Escherichia coli due to increased production of NADH (>2 NADH molecules/glucose molecule) that could lead to growth inhibition. However, the additional NADH produced by PDH can be used for conversion of acetyl coenzyme A into reduced fermentation products, like alcohols, during metabolic engineering of the bacterium. E. coli mutants that produced ethanol as the main fermentation product were recently isolated as derivatives of an ldhA pflB double mutant. In all six mutants tested, the mutation was in the lpd gene encoding dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (LPD), a component of PDH. Three of the LPD mutants carried an H322Y mutation (lpd102), while the other mutants carried an E354K mutation (lpd101). Genetic and physiological analysis revealed that the mutation in either allele supported anaerobic growth and homoethanol fermentation in an ldhA pflB double mutant. Enzyme kinetic studies revealed that the LPD(E354K) enzyme was significantly less sensitive to NADH inhibition than the native LPD. This reduced NADH sensitivity of the mutated LPD was translated into lower sensitivity of the appropriate PDH complex to NADH inhibition. The mutated forms of the PDH had a 10-fold-higher K(i) for NADH than the native PDH. The lower sensitivity of PDH to NADH inhibition apparently increased PDH activity in anaerobic E. coli cultures and created the new ethanologenic fermentation pathway in this bacterium. Analogous mutations in the LPD of other bacteria may also significantly influence the growth and physiology of the organisms in a similar fashion.