Phosphoglycerate kinase gene from Zymomonas mobilis: cloning, sequencing, and localization within the gap operon.

The Zymomonas mobilis gene encoding phosphoglycerate kinase (EC 2.7.3.2), pgk, has been cloned into Escherichia coli and sequenced. It consists of 336 amino acids, including the N-terminal methionine, with a molecular weight of 41,384. This promoterless gene is located 225 base pairs downstream from the gap gene and is part of the gap operon. Previous studies have shown that the specific activities of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and phosphoglycerate kinase do not change coordinately in Z. mobilis, although the two enzymes appear to be under the control of a common promoter. The translated amino acid sequence for the Z. mobilis phosphoglycerate kinase is less conserved than those of eucaryotic genes. A comparison of known sequences for phosphoglycerate kinase revealed a high degree of conservation of structure with 102 amino acid positions being retained by all. In general, the amino acid positions at the boundaries of beta-sheet and alpha-helical regions and those connecting these regions were more highly conserved than the amino acid positions within regions of secondary structure.     

Immobilized glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase forms a complex with phosphoglycerate kinase

Yeast glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) covalently attached to CNBr-activated Sepharose 4B was shown to be capable of binding soluble yeast phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) in the course of incubation in the presence of an excess of 1,3-diphosphoglycerate. The association of the matrix-bound and soluble enzymes also occurred if the kinase was added to a reaction mixture in which the immobilized glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, NAD, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate and Pi had been preincubated. Three kinase molecules were bound per a tetramer of the immobilized dehydrogenase and one molecule per a dimer. An immobilized monomer of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was incapable of binding phosphoglycerate kinase. The matrix-bound bienzyme complexes were stable enough to survive extensive washings with a buffer and could be used repeatedly for activity determinations. Experimental evidence is presented to support the conclusion that 1,3-diphosphoglycerate produced by the kinase bound in a complex can dissociate into solution and be utilized by the dehydrogenase free of phosphoglycerate kinase.     

Glycolytic enzyme interactions with tubulin and microtubules

Interactions of the glycolytic enzymes glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, aldolase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, triose-phosphate isomerase, enolase, phosphoglycerate mutase, phosphoglycerate kinase, pyruvate kinase, lactate dehydrogenase type-M, and lactate dehydrogenase type-H with tubulin and microtubules were studied. Lactate dehydrogenase type-M, pyruvate kinase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, and aldolase demonstrated the greatest amount of co-pelleting with microtubules. The presence of 7% poly(ethylene glycol) increased co-pelleting of the latter four enzymes and two other enzymes, glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, and phosphoglycerate kinase with microtubules. Interactions also were characterized by fluorescence anisotropy. Since the KD values of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase and lactate dehydrogenase for tubulin and microtubules were all found to be between 1 and 4 microM, which is in the range of enzyme concentration in cells, these enzymes are probably bound to microtubules in vivo. These observations indicate that interactions of cytosolic proteins, such as the glycolytic enzymes, with cytoskeletal components, such as microtubules, may play a structural role in the formation of the microtrabecular lattice.     

Identification, sequence analysis, and expression of a Corynebacterium glutamicum gene cluster encoding the three glycolytic enzymes glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, 3-phosphoglycerate kinase, and triosephosphate isomerase.

To investigate a possible chromosomal clustering of glycolytic enzyme genes in Corynebacterium glutamicum, a 6.4-kb DNA fragment located 5' adjacent to the structural phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCx) gene ppc was isolated. Sequence analysis of the ppc-proximal part of this fragment identified a cluster of three glycolytic genes, namely, the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene gap, the 3-phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) gene pgk, and the triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) gene tpi. The four genes are organized in the order gap-pgk-tpi-ppc and are separated by 215 bp (gap and pgk), 78 bp (pgk and tpi), and 185 bp (tpi and ppc). The predicted gene product of gap consists of 336 amino acids (M(r) of 36,204), that of pgk consists of 403 amino acids (M(r) of 42,654), and that of tpi consists of 259 amino acids (M(r) of 27,198). The amino acid sequences of the three enzymes show up to 62% (GAPDH), 48% (PGK), and 44% (TPI) identity in comparison with respective enzymes from other organisms. The gap, pgk, tpi, and ppc genes were cloned into the C. glutamicum-Escherichia coli shuttle vector pEK0 and introduced into C. glutamicum. Relative to the wild type, the recombinant strains showed up to 20-fold-higher specific activities of the respective enzymes. On the basis of codon usage analysis of gap, pgk, tpi, and previously sequenced genes from C. glutamicum, a codon preference profile for this organism which differs significantly from those of E. coli and Bacillus subtilis is presented.     

Combined glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase/phosphoglycerate kinase in catecholamine-stimulated guinea-pig cardiac muscle. Comparison with mass-action ratio of creatine kinase.

The steady-state reactant levels of triose-phosphate isomerase and the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase/phosphoglycerate kinase system were examined in guinea-pig cardiac muscle. Key glycolytic intermediates, including glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate were directly measured and compared with those of creatine kinase. Non-working Langendorff hearts as well as isolated working hearts were perfused with 5 mM glucose (plus insulin) under normoxia conditions to maintain lactate dehydrogenase near-equilibrium. The cytosolic phosphorylation potential ([ATP]/([ADP].[Pi])) was derived from creatine kinase and the free [NAD+]/([NADH].[H+]) ratio from lactate dehydrogenase. In Langendorff hearts glycolysis was varied from near-zero flux (hyperkalemic cardiac arrest) to higher than normal flux (normal and maximum catecholamine stimulation). The triose-phosphate isomerase was near-equilibrium only in control or potassium-arrested Langendorff hearts as well as in postischemic 'stunned' hearts. However, when glycolytic flux increased due to norepinephrine or due to physiological pressure-volume work the enzyme was displaced from equilibrium. The alternative phosphorylation ratio [ATP]'/([ADP]).[Pi]) was derived from the magnesium-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase/phosphoglycerate kinase system assigning free magnesium different values in the physiological range (0.1-2.0 mM). As predicted, [ATP]/([ADP].[Pi]) and [ATP]'/([ADP]'.[Pi]') were in excellent agreement when glycolysis was virtually halted by hyperkalemic arrest (flux approximately 0.2 mumol C3.min-1.g dry mass-1). However, the equality between the two phosphorylation ratios was not abolished upon resumption of spontaneous beating and also not during adrenergic stimulation (flux approximately 5-14 mumol C3.min-1.g dry mass-1). In contrast, when flux increased due to transition from no-work to physiological pressure-volume work (rate increase from approximately 3 to 11 mumol C3.min-1.g dry mass-1), the two ratios were markedly different indicating disequilibrium of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase/phosphoglycerate kinase. Only during adrenergic stimulation or postischemic myocardial 'stunning', not due to hydraulic work load per se, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate levels increased from about 4 microM to greater than or equal to 16 microM. Thus the guinea-pig cardiac glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase/phosphoglycerate kinase system can realize the potential for near-equilibrium catalysis at significant flux provided glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate levels rise, e.g., due to 'stunning' or adrenergic hormones.     

Evidence that 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate dissociation from phosphoglycerate kinase is an intrinsically rapid reaction step

The steady-state kinetics of 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate formation through the action of phosphoglycerate kinase on 3-phosphoglycerate and ATP have been examined. The results show that initial velocities determined by the standard method of coupling bisphosphoglycerate production to NADH reduction in the presence of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase do not differ significantly from those determined in the absence of the latter enzyme. This observation invalidates the proposal that bisphosphoglycerate dissociation from phosphoglycerate kinase is much too slow to account for the high rates of phosphoglycerate turnover observed in the coupled two-enzyme system. The capacity for rapid bisphosphoglycerate production and release is an intrinsic catalytic property of phosphoglycerate kinase that does not require the presence of other enzymes or the involvement of a mechanism of channelized (non-diffusional) transfer of bisphosphoglycerate from the producing enzyme to the consuming one.     

Pcal_0632, a phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Pyrobaculum calidifontis

Genome sequence of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrobaculum calidifontis contains an open reading frame, Pcal_0632, annotated as glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, which is partially overlapped with phosphoglycerate kinase. In the phylogenetic tree, Pcal_0632 clustered with phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenases characterized from hyperthermophilic archaea and exhibited highest identity of 54% with glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Sulfolobus tokodaii. To examine biochemical function of the protein, Pcal_0632 gene was expressed in Escherichia coli and the gene product was purified. The recombinant enzyme catalyzed the conversion of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and inorganic phosphate into 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate utilizing both NAD and NADP as cofactor with a marked preference for NADP. The enzyme was highly stable against temperature and denaturants. Half-life of the enzyme was 60 min at 100 °C. It retained more than 60% of its activity even after an incubation of 72 h at room temperature in the presence of 6 M urea. High thermostability and resistance against denaturants make Pcal_0632 a novel glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase.

     

Yeast glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Evidence that subunit cooperativity in catalysis can be controlled by the formation of a complex with phosphoglycerate kinase

Sepharose-bound tetrameric, dimeric and monomeric forms of yeast glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase were prepared, as well as immobilized hybrid species containing (by selective oxidation of an active center cysteine residue with H2O2) one inactivated subunit per tetramer or dimer. The catalytic properties of these enzyme forms were compared in the forward reaction (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate oxidation) and reverse reaction (1,3-bisphosphoglycerate reductive dephosphorylation) under steady-state conditions. In the reaction of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate oxidation, immobilized monomeric and tetrameric forms exhibited similar specific activities. The hybrid-modified dimer contributed on half of the total activity of a native dimer. The tetramer containing one modified subunit possessed 75% of the activity of an unmodified tetramer. In the reaction of 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate reductive dephosphorylation, the specific activity of the monomeric enzyme species was nearly twice as high as that of the tetramer, suggesting that only one-half of the active centers of the oligomer were acting simultaneously. Subunit cooperativity in catalysis persisted in an isolated dimeric species. The specific activity of a monomer associated with a peroxide-inactivated monomer in a dimer was equal to that of an isolated monomeric species and twice as high as that of a native immobilized dimer. The specific activity of subunits associated with a peroxide-inactivated subunit in a tetramer did not differ from that of a native immobilized tetramer; this indicates that interdimeric interactions are involved in catalytic subunit cooperativity. A complex was formed between the immobilized glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and soluble phosphoglycerate kinase. Three monomers of phosphoglycerate kinase were bound per tetramer of the dehydrogenase and one per dimer. Evidence is presented that if the reductive dephosphorylation of 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate proceeds in the phosphoglycerate kinase - glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase complex, all active sites of the latter enzyme act independently, i.e. subunit cooperativity is abolished.     

31P NMR magnetization-transfer measurements of flux between inorganic phosphate and adenosine 5'-triphosphate in yeast cells genetically modified to overproduce phosphoglycerate kinase

31P NMR magnetization-transfer measurements were used to measure flux between inorganic phosphate and ATP in the reactions catalyzed by phosphoglycerate kinase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in anaerobic cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Flux between ATP and Pi and glucose consumption and ethanol production were measured in cells expressing different levels of phosphoglycerate kinase activity. Overexpression of the enzyme was obtained by transforming the cells with a multicopy plasmid containing the phosphoglycerate kinase coding sequence and portions of the promoter element. Fluxes were also measured in cells in which the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity had been lowered by limited incubation with iodoacetate. These measurements showed that both enzymes have low flux control coefficients for glycolysis but that phosphoglycerate kinase has a relatively high flux control coefficient for the ATP----Pi exchange catalyzed by the two enzymes. The Pi----ATP exchange velocities observed in the cell were shown to be similar to those displayed by the isolated enzymes in vitro under conditions designed to mimic those in the cell with respect to the enzyme substrate concentrations.     

Gluconeogenic mutations in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: genetic linkage between fructose-bisphosphate aldolase and phosphoglycerate kinase

Mutants of mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa defective in fructose-bisphosphate aldolase (FBA), NADP-linked glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAP) or 3-phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) were unable to grow on gluconeogenic precursors like glutamate, succinate or lactate. The gap and pgk mutants could grow on glucose, gluconate or glycerol, but fba mutants could not. This suggests that the metabolism of glucose or gluconate does not require either PGK or NADP-linked GAP but does require the operation of the aldolase-catalysed step. For gluconeogenesis, however, all three steps are essential. Recombinant plasmids carrying genes for FBA, PGK, GAP or phospho-2-keto-3-deoxygluconate aldolase (EDA) activities were constructed from a genomic library of mucoid P. aeruginosa selecting for complementation of deficiency mutations. Analysis of their complementation profile indicated that one group of plasmids carried fba and pgk genes, while another group carried eda, 6-phosphogluconate dehydratase (edd) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (zwf) genes. The gap gene was not linked to any of these markers. Partial restoration of FBA activity in spontaneous revertants of Fba- mutants was accompanied by a concomitant loss of PGK activity. These experiments indicate a linkage between the fba and pgk genes on the P. aeruginosa chromosome.     

The activation of glycolysis performed by the non-phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the model system

Influence of non-phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPN) on glycolysis was investigated. The addition of GAPN-which oxidizes glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate directly to the 3-phosphoglyceric acid-led to the strong increase in the rate of lactate accumulation in the rat muscle extract with low ADP content. The lactate accumulation was also observed in the presence of GAPN in rat muscle extract, which contained only ATP and no ADP. This can be the evidence of the "futile cycle" stimulated by GAPN. Here ADP can be regenerated from ATP by the phosphoglycerate kinase reaction. The high resistance of GAPN from Streptococcus mutans towards inactivation by natural oxidant-H(2)O(2) was showed. This feature distinguishes GAPN from phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, which is very sensitive to modification by hydrogen peroxide. A possible role of the oxidants and non-phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the regulation of glycolysis is discussed.     

Hexokinase-coupled radioassays: Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and enolase

A general method for the assay of enzymes which produce ATP, or are susceptible to be coupled to ATP-producing enzymes, is described. We have applied it to the assay of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and enolase. For these enzymes, the product of the reaction, 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate or phosphoenolpyruvate, were coupled to ADP and either phosphoglycerate kinase or pyruvate kinase, respectively. The ATP formed in both cases is used by hexokinase plus labeled glucose to produce labeled glucose 6-phosphate which is quantitatively separated in small Dowex 1 columns and measured by liquid scintillation spectrometry. The conditions described permitted the detection of 0.1 mU of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase or enolase. As a further example of the sensitivity of the radioassay, effluents of a CM-cellulose column charged with an extract prepared from one single frog oocyte were analyzed and shown to contain a single enolase and two glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase fractions.     

The gap1 operon of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus PCC 7942 carries a gene encoding glycogen phosphorylase and is induced under anaerobic conditions

The cloning and sequencing of the gap1 operon, which encodes the glycolytic NAD-specific glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus PCC 7942, showed that the gap1 gene is closely linked to the glgP gene encoding glycogen phosphorylase (an enzyme that catalyzes the first step of glycogen degradation). Northern blotting experiments showed that the gap1 and glgP genes are co-expressed and organized in a bicistronic operon, whose expression is enhanced under anaerobic conditions. The nucleotide sequence of the operon has been submitted to GenBank under accession number AF428099.     

Effect of water stress on photosynthesis and in vitro activities of the PCR cycle enzymes in pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.)

Leaf water potential was decreased by withholding irrigation to provide three levels of stress described as mild ({ie69-1}) moderate ({ie69-2}) and severe ({ie69-3}). The specific activity of NADP linked glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphoglycerate kinase, aldolase, phosphogluco-isomerase and RuBP carboxylase decreased under mild stress, but the activity of phosphoglucomutase showed an increase whilst ribulose-5-phosphate kinase was least affected. With further decrease in water potential, the activity of NADP linked glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and aldolase showed a decrease, whereas, the activities of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, phosphoglycerate kinase, phosphogulcomutase and RuBP carboxylase increased. Net CO₂ fixation decreased sharply with stress, whereas, respiration and photorespiration increased in moderate stress, but decreased under severe stress. Stomatal resistance also increased with decrease in water potential. It seems that in vitro enzyme activities of PCR cycle are not responsible for decreased photosynthesis in pigeonpea under short term water stress.