Inhibition of cytoplasmic aspartate aminotransferase from porcine heart by R and S isomers of aminooxysuccinate and hydrazinosuccinate

D- and L-aminooxysuccinate were synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors of cytoplasmic aspartate aminotransferase (EC 2.6.1.1) from porcine heart. L-Aminooxysuccinate was shown to be a slow binding inhibitor of the pyridoxal phosphate form of the enzyme with a Ki of 160 nM and a half-life of the inhibited complex of 8 min. Kinetic analysis revealed that inhibition followed a two-step mechanism in which the last step was rate-limiting. D-Aminooxysuccinate was not inhibitory up to a concentration of 0.1 mM. These compounds were compared to D- and L-hydrazinosuccinate, which are potent slow binding inhibitors of aspartate aminotransferase with Ki values of 1.5 and 0.5 nM, respectively. Models of all four analogs were built into the active site of the closed form of the enzyme. The energy-minimized conformations of both L-isomers bound to aspartate aminotransferase show better geometry for hydrogen bond and ion pair formation than do the corresponding D-isomers. The aldimine double bond formed by the L-isomers is not coplanar with the pyridoxal phosphate ring in accordance with the spectral properties of the inhibitor complexes that are characterized by broad absorbance bands. This lack of planarity was not evident for the models of D-hydrazinosuccinate and D-aminooxysuccinate.