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Biomedical subjects

P Christen

Publications and source records attributed to P Christen.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Paracatalytic modification of aldolase: a side reaction of the catalytic cycle resulting in irreversible blocking of two active-site lysyl residues.

Paracatalytic enzyme modifications result from the oxidation of enzyme-substrate carbanions by extrinsic oxidants. During the oxidation of enzyme-activated substrates, transiently reactive intermediates are generated which, without being released from the enzyme, modify groups at the active site. For enzymes producing carbanion intermediates, the combination of the normal substrate with a suitable electron acceptor has thus been proposed as a highly specific binary system for their active site-directed modification. In this study, the structural features of paracatalytically modified fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (D-fructose-1,6-bisphosphate D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate lyase, EC 4.1.2.13) from rabbit muscle have been elucidated. This enzyme is completely inactivated within 60 min in the presence of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate in saturating concentration and 0.5 mM hexacyanoferrate(III) (pH 7.6, 25 degrees C). The inactivation is caused by covalent incorporation of one triosephosphate derivative per subunit. Peptide analysis showed that the triosephosphate derivative forms an intrachain crosslink between lysine-146 and lysine-227. According to previous independent experimental evidence, both lysyl residues are located at the active site: the epsilon-amino group of lysine-227 forms a Schiff base intermediate with the carbonyl group of the substrate [Lai, C. Y., Nakai, N. & Chang, D. (1974) Science 183, 1204-1206] and alkylation of lysine-146 by the affinity labeling reagent N-bromoacetylethanolamine phosphate inactivates the enzyme [Hartman, F. C. & Brown, J. P. (1976) J. Biol. Chem. 251, 3057-3062]. The present data thus establish paracatalytic modification as a mode of active site-directed enzyme modification.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Irreversible inactivation of pyruvate decarboxylase in the presence of substrate and an oxidant. An example of paracatalytic enzyme inactivation.

Pyruvate decarboxylase from yeast is progressively inactivated in the presence of pyruvate and an extrinsic oxidant such as 2,6-dichloroindophenol or hexacyanoferrate(III). The inactivation is linked to the oxidation of the hydroxyethylthiamine diphosphate intermediate to acetate. Removal of low-molecular compounds by gel filtration does not reactivate the enzyme. The rate of inactivation obeys saturation kinetics with respect to substrate concentration and is independent of enzyme concentration. In analogy to the paracatalytic inactivation of other enzymes forming oxidizable carbanion intermediates [Christen, P. (1977) Methods Enzymol.46, 48--54], the oxidation of enzyme-bound hydroxyethylthiamine diphosphate is thought to generate a transiently reactive intermediate which, without being released from the enzyme, covalently modifies a group at or near the active site. Reconstitution experiments indicate that the protein rather than the coenzyme moiety is modified.

2,6-Dichloroindophenol↗
PubMed1978

Syncatalytic conformational changes in aspartate aminotransferase determined by hydrogen-deuterium exchange.

Catalysis-linked conformational transitions of aspartate aminotransferase (cytosolic isoenzyme from pig heart; L-aspartate:2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase, EC 2.6.1.1) have been probed by infrared spectrophotometric measurement of hydrogen-deuterium exchange. In the unliganded pyridoxal form of the enzyme at pH 6.0 and 20 degrees, 43% of the total 411 peptide hydrogens per subunit exchange within the first 10 min. An additional 9% exchange slowly in the following time period to 360 min. A quite similar exchange curve is obtained with the pyridoxamine form of the enzyme, indicating close correspondence in conformation of both unliganded forms of the enzyme. Formation of a nonproductive adsorption complex of the pyridoxal enzyme with 2-oxoglutarate or of the pyridoxamine enzyme with glutamate alters the exchange characteristics only slightly. In contrast, the formation of an equilibrium mixture of the covalent transamination intermediates, which occurs in the silultaneous presence of the amino acid and the keto acid substrate, results in a marked retardation of hydrogen exchange, reflecting a substantial tightening of the structure of the enzyme. The exchange reactions of at least 26 peptide hydrogens per subunit (6% of the total) are retarded by a factor of 6 on the average. The occurrence of such syncatalytic conformational changes reflects energetic coupling of the covalency changes at the active site with conformational changes of the macromolecular protein matrix that may contribute to optimizing the free energy profile of enzymic transamination.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Active-site labeling of aspartate aminotransferases by the beta,gamma-unsaturated amino acid vinylglycine.

The pyridoxal form of both cytosolic and mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase is irreversibly inactivated consequent to its interaction with the beta,gamma-unsaturated substrate analogue vinylglycine. Per catalytic cycle, 90% of the enzyme molecules are inactivated while 10% escape inactivation by transamination to the pyridoxamine form. In the presence of vinylglycine plus 2-oxoglutarate, inactivation is complete because of retransamination of the pyridoxamine form to the susceptible pyridoxal form. Peptide analyses after inactivation with [1-14C]vinylglycine showed that vinylglycine alkylates the active-site lysine residue 258 which forms the internal aldimine with the coenzyme pyridoxal 5'-phosphate. The coenzyme itself is left intact; resolution of the inactivated enzyme by base or trichloroacetic acid yields pyridoxal-5'-P. The absorption spectrum of the inactivated enzyme (lambdamax 335 nm) suggests that the cofactor is bound as a substituted aldimine. The proposed pathway of alkylation of Lys-258 involves abstraction of the alpha proton from vinylglycine, isomerization to the alpha,beta-unsaturated enamine, and subsequent nucleophilic attack of the epsilon-amino group of the lysyl residue at the beta carbon of the inhibitor. The determination of the amino acid sequence around the coenzyme-binding lysyl residue in the mitochondrial isoenzyme from chicken gave Ala-(epsilon-Pxy)Lys-Asn-Met-(Gly,Leu,Tyr) which is identical with the other mitochondrial transaminases examined so far.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1977

Coupling of fructose-1,6-P2 to aminated agarose by Schiff base reduction. Affinity chromatography of yeast aldolase.

Fructose-1,6-P2 was immobilized by sodium borohydride reduction of the Schiff base formed with aminated agarose (AH-Sepharose 4B). The coupling occurs with high yield (25 mumoles immobilized fructose-1,6-P2 per ml packed gel) at neutral pH and room temperature. Schiff base reduction thus provides a convenient and mild coupling prodecure for sugar phosphates preserving their labile phospho ester bonds. As exemplified by a new isolation procedure for fructose-1,6-P2 aldolase from yeast, sugar phosphates insolubilized in this manner may be used for affinity chromatography of the corresponding enzymes, provided that contaminating unspecific phosphatases are removed in a preceding fractionation step.

Chemical Phenomena↗
PubMed1977

Interspecies comparison of cytosolic and mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferases. Evidence for a more conservative evolution of the mitochondrial isoenzyme.

The degree of structural similarity between the mitochondrial isoenzymes of aspartate aminotransferase from pig heart and chicken heart was determined by means of their immunological cross-reactivity and compared with the degree of similarity between the cytosolic isoenzymes from the same two species. Quantitative microcomplement fixation revealed a remarkable similarity of the two mitochondrial isoenzymes corresponding to an immunological distance of 104. The structures of the two cytosolic isoenzymes, on the other hand, diverge with an immunological distance of 203. The apparent conservatism of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase indicates additional evolutionary constraints on the structure of this organelle-confined isoenzyme.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Oxidation of the carbanion intermediate of transaldolase by hexacyanoferrate (III).

The transaldolase-dihydroxyacetone carbanion intermediate formed in the reaction of transaldolase with its donor substrates fructose-6-P or sedoheptulose-7-P is susceptible to oxidation by hexacyanoferrate(III). The dihydroxyacetone moiety is oxidized to the corresponding 2-ketoaldehyde, i.e. hydroxy-pyruvaldehyde (CH2OH-CO-CHO). This oxidation product is, in contrast to dihydroxyacetone, readily released from the enzyme. In the presence of hexacyanoferrate(III) transaldolase thus functions as an efficient catalyst of the oxidative cleavage of its donor substrates fructose-6-P or sedoheptulose-7-P into hydroxypyruvaldehyde and glyceraldehyde-3-P or erythrose-4-P, respectively. Two moles of hexacyanoferrate(III) are reduced per mole of oxidatively cleaved donor substrate. The molecular activity for oxidative cleavage of fructose-6-P at a hexacyanoferrate(III) concentration of 0.5 mM is 0.65% of that for the normal transfer reaction with erythrose-4-P as the acceptor substrate. The present data emphasize the applicability of certain oxidants as trapping agents for enzymatic carbanion intermediates as proposed previously (Healy, M.J.,, and Christen, P. (1973) Biochemistry 12, 35-41).

Dihydroxyacetone↗