Dissociation of mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase

The kinetics of the dissociation reaction under acidic conditions of the dimeric pig and chicken mitochondrial malate dehydrogenases (EC 1.1.1.37) have been studied. The dissociation of the pig enzyme is completely reversible. The pK for dissociation determined by light-scattering measurements agrees within experimental error with the pK value of 5.25 measured for a tyrosine-carboxylate pair. The rate constants for the dissociation reaction and for the protonation process of this tyrosine are in close agreement. Thus, the tyrosine-carboxylate pair can be used as indicator of the dissociation reaction. The dissociation of the chicken enzyme proceeds around pH 4.5 at a much lower rate. A true equilibrium between dimer and monomers is not found, since the monomer gradually unfolds at this pH. The monomers of both enzymes, pig and chicken mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase, show the same stability towards acid. The difference in stability of the dimeric forms, therefore, must be due to an altered subunit contact area.     

Stabilization of halophilic malate dehydrogenase

Malate dehydrogenase from the extreme halophile, Halobacterium marismortui, is stable only in highly concentrated solutions of certain salts. Previous work has established that its physiological environment is saturated in KCl; it remains soluble is saturated NaCl or KCl solutions; also it unfolds in solutions containing less than 2.5 M-NaCl or -KCl, salt concentrations which are still relatively high. New data show that the structure of this enzyme can be stabilized in a range of high concentrations of Mg2+ or other "salting-in" ions, also with exceptional protein-solvent interactions. "Salting-in" ions, contrary to stabilizing protein structure, usually favour unfolding. These, and most other results concerning the structure, stability and solvent interactions of the protein cannot be understood in terms of the usual effects of salts on protein structure. In this paper, a novel stabilization model is proposed for halophilic malate dehydrogenase that can account for all observations so far. The model results from experiments on the protein in salt solutions chosen for their different effects on protein stability (potassium phosphate, a strongly "salting-out" agent, and MgCl2, which is "salting-in"), and previously published data from NaCl and KCl solutions (mildly "salting-out"). Enzymic activity and stability measurements were combined with neutron scattering, ultracentrifugation and quasi-elastic light-scattering experiments. The analysis showed that the structure of the protein in solution as well as the dominant stabilization mechanisms were different in different salt solutions in which this enzyme is active. Thus, in molar concentrations of phosphate ions, stabilization and hydration are similar to those of non-halophilic soluble proteins, in which the hydrophobic effect dominates. In high concentrations of KCl, NaCl or MgCl2, on the other hand, solution particles are formed in which the protein dimer interacts with large numbers of salt and water molecules (the mass of solvent molecules involved depends on the nature of the salt but it is approximately equivalent to the protein mass). It is proposed that, under these conditions, the hydrophobicity of the protein core is too weak to stabilize the folded structure and the main stabilization mechanism is the formation of co-operative hydrate bonds between the protein and hydrated salt ions. Model predictions are in agreement with all experimental results, such as the different numbers of solvent molecules found in the solution particles formed with different salts, the loss of the exceptional solvent interactions concomitant with unfolding at non-physiological salt concentrations, and the different temperature denaturation curves observed for different salt solutions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

The control of wheat malate dehydrogenase by rye chromosomes

A quantitative analysis of malate dehydrogenase isozymes has been carried out in a hexaploid wheat Triticum aestivum variety Holdfast, a diploid rye Secale cereale variety King II, a series of seven addition lines each having the Holdfast wheat chromosome complement, and also a different homologous pair of King II rye chromosomes. In young shoots of three of these addition lines grown in a defined salts medium lacking sucrose, at least one isozyme activity was elevated. This did not occur in shoots grown in a medium containing 0.5% sucrose or in the Triticale possessing the full wheat and rye chromosomal complements grown in the absence of exogenous sucrose. On the basis of cellular localization and substrate inhibition studies, the particular isozyme activities enhanced by the rye chromosomes were indistinguishable from isozyme activities in Holdfast wheat and dissimilar to all malate dehydrogenase isozyme activities observed in King II rye. These results suggest that three different rye chromosomes produce gene products which can interact with the wheat malate dehydrogenase regulatory system.     

The intracellular localisation of malate dehydrogenase in Anacystis nidulans

Abstract Malate dehydrogenase has been reported to be active as a Krebs cycle enzyme in Anabaena cylindrica and Anacystis nidulans [1,2] and as an enzyme of the glycollate pathway in Anabaena cylindrica [1,3]. This enzyme was also reported in Oscillatoria spp. [4] and in Nostoc muscorum [5]. The isoenzyme of eukaryotic organisms was known to participate in various metabolic pathways and to be localized in different subcellular organelles [6–9]. Kovatcheva and Bergman [5] have purified the enzyme from the reddish-brown 20 000 × g × 20 min supernatant. We have determined the intracellular distribution of malate dehydrogenese of Anacystis nidulans and present evidence that it is largely associated with the thylakoids. The significance of this study is discussed in terms of the dual role of cyanobacterial thylakoids in photosynthesis and respiration.     

The reduction of aromatic alpha-keto acids by cytoplasmic malate dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase

This study demonstrates that cytoplasmic malate dehydrogenase (MDH-s) catalyzes the reduction of aromatic alpha-keto acids in the presence of NADH, that the enzyme which has been described in the literature as aromatic alpha-keto acid reductase (KAR; EC 1.1.1.96) is identical to MDH-s, and that the reduction of aromatic alpha-keto acids is due predominantly to a previously unrecognized secondary activity of MDH-s and the remainder is due to the previously recognized activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) toward aromatic keto-acids. MDH-s and KAR have the same molecular weight, subunit structure, and tissue distribution. Starch gel electrophoresis followed by histochemical staining using either p-hydroxy-phenylpyruvic acid (HPPA) or malate as the substrate shows that KAR activity comigrates with MDH-s in all species studied except some marine species. Inhibition with malate, the end product of the MDH reaction, substantially reduces or totally eliminates KAR activity. Genetically determined electrophoretic variants of MDH-s seen in the fresh water bony fish of the genus Xiphophorus and the amphibian Rana pipiens exhibited identical variation for KAR, and the two traits cosegregated in the offspring from one R. pipiens heterozygote studied. Both enzymes comigrate with no electrophoretic variation among several inbred strains of mice. Antisera raised against purified chicken MDH-s totally inhibited both MDH-s and KAR activity in chicken liver homogenates. There is no evidence to suggest that any protein besides MDH-s and LDH catalyzes this reaction with the possible exception of the situation in Xiphophorus, in which a third independent zone of HPPA reduction is observed. In most species the activity formerly described as KAR appears to be due to a previously unsuspected activity of MDH-s toward aromatic monocarboxylic alpha-keto acids. In all species examined the KAR activity is associated only with MDH-s; in tissue homogenates the mitochondrial form of MDH (MDH-m) is not detected after electrophoresis using HPPA as a substrate.     

Cell-free synthesis of glyoxysomal malate dehydrogenase

Polyadenylated mRNA was isolated from germinating watermelon cotyledons and translated in a wheat germ protein synthesizing system. The synthesis of glyoxysomal malate dehydrogenase was detected by direct immunoprecipitation and electrophoretic analysis of the precipitate. In addition to a small amount of the authentic isoenzyme (subunit molecular weight = 33 000), the major part of the incorporated [35S] methionine was observed in a polypeptide with a molecular weight of 38 000. The possible role of the larger molecule as a precursor of glyoxysomal malate dehydrogenase is discussed.     

Cell wall-bound malate dehydrogenase from horseradish

Isolated cell walls from horseradish contain NAD-specific malate dehydrogenase which is not released on treatment with 2 M NaCl. This enzyme catalyses a rapid reduction of oxalacetate. Its physiological role, however, is assumed to be the oxidation of malate, thus providing NADH as electron donor in the formation of H₂O₂, by a wall-bound peroxidase. In the presence of malate, NAD and Mn²⁺ ions, cell walls catalyse the synthesis of H₂O₂ which might be utilized in lignin formation. In analogy to the known malate-oxalacetate shuttles, the possibility is discussed that this cell wall-associated malate dehydrogenase is involved in the transport of cytoplasmic reducing equivalents through the plasmalemma into the cell wall.     

The isozymes of lactate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase and glucosephosphate isomerase in Italian ictalurids

1. The isozymes of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and glucose-phosphate isomerase (GPI) of three species of Italian ictalurids: Ictalurus sp., I. nebulosus marmoratus, and I. punctatus, were analyzed. 2. Isoelectric focusing (IEF) was applied to polyacrylamide gel plates, and the isozymes revealed by means of specific histochemical staining. 3. Species-specific monomorphic patterns were found for LDH. 4. In contrast, MDH and GPI have the same patterns in I. sp. and I. nebulosus marmoratus and different patterns in I. punctatus. 5. Comparison of the isozymatic patterns of the three species clearly showed the close relationship between I. sp. and I. nebulosus marmoratus and the relative taxonomic distance of I. punctatus, and thus the early detachment of this last species from a presumptive common ancestral lineage.     

Characteristics of thermal inactivation of malate dehydrogenase

Over the range 20-52 degrees C thermal inactivation of malate dehydrogenase (MDH) was studied with the aim of well grounded choice of its stabilization ways. The process was described by the pseudofirst order rate constants, kin, dependent on enzyme concentration. The rate constant of enzyme inactivation at the "infinite" dilution in general form equals 1.40 X 10(27) X exp (-43 000/RT) s-1, whereas at high enzyme concentration it is 1.26 X 10(8) X exp (-17 700/RT) s-1. The limiting step of the MDH inactivation is the enzyme dissociation into its subunits. In the concentrated enzyme solution a protein association is accompanied by its stabilization. The methods of characterization of oligomeric proteins dissociative inactivation are discussed.