Detection in the ultracentrifuge of protein heterogeneity by computer modelling, illustrated by pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex.
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The dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase component (E2p) of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli contains three highly homologous sequences of about 100 residues that are tandemly repeated to form the N-terminal half of the polypeptide chain. All three sequences include a lysine residue that is a site for lipoylation and they appear to form independently folded functional domains. These lipoyl domains are in turn linked to a much larger (about 300 residues) subunit-binding domain of the E2p chain that aggregates to form the octahedral inner core of the complex and also contains the acetyltransferase active site. In order to investigate whether individual lipoyl domains play different parts in the enzymic mechanism, selective deletions were made in vitro in the dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase gene (aceF) so as to excise one or two of the repeating sequences. This was facilitated by the high degree of homology in these sequences, which allowed the creation of hybrid lipoyl domains that closely resemble the originals. Pyruvate dehydrogenase complexes incorporating these genetically reconstructed E2p components were purified and their structures were confirmed. It was found that the overall catalytic activity, the system of active site coupling, and the ability to complement pyruvate dehydrogenase complex mutants, were not significantly affected by the loss of one or even two lipoyl domains per E2p chain. No special role can be attached thus far to individual lipoyl domains. On the other hand, certain genetic deletions affecting the acetyltransferase domain caused inactivation of the complex, highlighting particularly sensitive areas of that part of the E2p chain.
In vitro deletion and site-directed mutagenesis of the aceF gene of Escherichia coli was used to generate dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (E2p) polypeptide chains containing various permutations and combinations of functional and non-functional lipoyl domains. A lipoyl domain was rendered non-functional by converting the lipoylatable lysine residue to glutamine. Two- and three-lipoyl domain E2p chains, with lipoyl-lysine (Lys244) substituted by glutamine in the innermost lipoyl domains (designated +/- and +/+/-, respectively), and similar chains with lipoyl-lysine (Lys143) substituted by glutamine in the outer lipoyl domains (designated -/+ and -/-/+), were constructed. In all instances, pyruvate dehydrogenase complexes were assembled in vivo around E2p cores composed of the modified peptide chains. All the complexes were essentially fully active in catalysis, although the complex containing the -/-/+ version of the E2p polypeptide chain showed a 50% reduction in specific catalytic activity. Similarly, active-site coupling in the complexes containing the +/-, +/+/- and -/+ constructions of the E2p chains was not significantly different from that achieved by the wild-type complex. However, active-site coupling in the complex containing the -/-/+ version of the E2p chain was slightly impaired, consistent with the reduced overall complex activity. These results indicate that during oxidative decarboxylation there is no mandatory order of reductive acetylation of repeated lipoyl domains within E2p polypeptide chains, and strongly suggest that the three tandemly repeated lipoyl domains in the wild-type E2p chain function independently in the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.
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Tetrahydrothiamin pyrophosphate, an analogue of thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP) in which the thiazolium ring has been reduced to a thiazolidine ring, was prepared by borohydride reduction of TPP. It consists of four stereoisomers, comprising two diastereomers each of which is a racemic mixture, generated by the introduction of two chiral centers on the thiazolidine ring. The major and minor diastereomers were separated and inferred to be of the cis and trans configurations, respectively, from a study of the nuclear Overhauser effects in the 1H NMR spectrum of the simpler tetrahydrothiamin. Tetrahydro-TPP behaves as a mixture of potent inhibitors of the pyruvate decarboxylase (E1) component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex from Escherichia coli. The site of binding is probably the TPP-binding site on E1, and the Kd for each of the four stereoisomers was estimated. The cis isomers of tetrahydro-TPP bind more tightly than does TPP, whereas the trans isomers appear to bind with about the same Kd as TPP. Sodium borohydride caused a rapid inhibition of E1 activity in the presence of TPP, believed to be due to reaction of borohydride with enzyme-bound TPP. The experiments are consistent with an enhancement of the reactivity of the thiazole ring of TPP when bound to the catalytic site of E1, which could be due to polarization of the greater than +N=C bond near a hydrophobic or positively charged region of the protein. A spontaneous reactivation occurred after the initial inhibition by borohydride, attributable to a weakly binding inhibitor, not tetrahydro-TPP, being formed at the catalytic site.
Bromopyruvate behaves as an active-site-directed inhibitor of the pyruvate decarboxylase (E1) component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli. It requires the cofactor thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP) and acts initially as an inhibitor competitive with pyruvate (Ki ca. 90 microM) but then proceeds to react irreversibly with the enzyme, probably with the thiol group of a cysteine residue. E1 catalyzes the decomposition of bromopyruvate, the enzyme becoming inactivated once every 40-60 turnovers. Bromopyruvate also inactivates the intact pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in a TPP-dependent process, but the inhibition is more rapid and is mechanistically different. Under these conditions, bromopyruvate is decarboxylated, and the lipoic acid residues in the lipoate acetyltransferase (E2) component become reductively bromoacetylated. Further bromopyruvate then reacts with the new thiol groups thus generated in the lipoic acid residues, inactivating the complex. If reaction with the lipoic acid residues is prevented by prior treatment of the complex with N-ethylmaleimide in the presence of pyruvate, the mode of inhibition reverts to irreversible reaction with the E1 component. In both types of inhibition of E1, reaction of 1 mol of bromopyruvate/mol of E1 chain is required for complete inactivation, and all the evidence is consistent with reaction taking place at or near the pyruvate binding site.
The kinetics of the succinylation and the desuccinylation of the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex from Escherichia coli have been studied at 4 degrees C in 2 mM thiamin pyrophosphate, 2 mM MgCl2, and 20 mM potassium phosphate (pH 7.0) by steady-state and quenched-flow techniques. The initial steady-state velocity for the reaction of the complex is inhibited by high concentrations of alpha-ketoglutarate. The data are consistent either with cooperative interactions between two catalytic sites or with the existence of an alpha-ketoglutarate regulatory site. The time course of the succinylation by alpha-ketoglutarate of the unmodified complex or the complex in which a fraction of the alpha-ketoglutarate decarboxylase subunits (E1) has been inhibited with N-ethylmaleimide reveals a complex kinetic process. A mechanism consistent with the kinetic data is proposed in which some E1 subunits succinylate one lipoic acid per E1 and other E1 subunits succinylate two lipoic acids per E1. Furthermore, each succinylation reaction occurs via a two-step process with rate constants of 49 and 89 s-1 at saturating concentrations of alpha-ketoglutarate for the first and second steps, respectively. At long times, 13-16 mol of succinate binds per mol of unmodified complex. The stoichiometry of binding obtained with N-ethylmaleimide-treated complex is initially lower but approaches the same values as for the unmodified complex over the course of minutes. Coenzyme A removes the succinyl groups on the unmodified enzyme with a rate constant greater than or equal to 200 s-1. The results obtained suggest a limited accessibility between sites on the complex.
The alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex from Escherichia coli consists of a core component, dihydrolipoyl transsuccinylase (E2), to which are noncovalently bound 12 polypeptide chains each of alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase. E2 exists as a cube-shaped complex comprising 24 identical chains and may be resolved from the other two enzyme components. Limited digestion of E2 with trypsin quantitatively removes domains containing the lipoic acid cofactor while leaving the quaternary structure of the complex intact. Averages of native and trypsin-modified E2 were computed from images of single molecules obtained from electron micrographs of negatively stained specimens. The two averages were very similar and were in general agreement with a model determined previously by X-ray crystallography. However, detailed analysis of the difference image, obtained by subtracting the average of the trypsin-treated E2 from the native E2, showed extra stain-excluding regions along the edges of the native molecule which we interpret as representing the lipoyl-bearing domains. Micrographs of mixtures of native and modified E2 were also analyzed in order to rule out staining or electron-optical artifacts as accounting for the results. On the basis of these results along with other available structural information, we propose that one function of the lipoyl domains is to permit interactions between distantly separated lipoyl moieties in the E2 complex; this proposal also agrees with recent results of modeling studies of biochemical data [Hackert, M.L., Oliver, R.M., & Reed, L.J. (1983) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80, 2226-2230].
Deletion of two of the three homologous lipoyl domains that form the N-terminal half of each dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (E2p) polypeptide chain of the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex can be achieved by in vitro deletion in the structural gene aceF. A site-directed mutagenesis of this shortened aceF gene was carried out to replace the glutamine residue at position 291 (wild-type numbering) with a histidine residue. Residue 291 is near the middle of a long segment (about 30 amino acid residues) of polypeptide chain, rich in alanine, proline, and charged amino acids, that links the remaining lipoyl domain to the dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3) binding domain in the E2p chain. A fully active enzyme complex was still assembled, and despite the enormous size of the particle (Mr approximately 4 x 10(6)), sharp resonances attributable to the single new histidine residue per E2p chain could be detected in the 400-MHz 1H NMR spectrum of the complex. The sharpness of these resonances, their chemical shifts (7.94 and 7.05 ppm), and the apparent pKa (6.4) of the side chain were all consistent with this histidine residue being exposed to solvent in a conformationally flexible region of the E2p polypeptide chain. These experiments provide direct proof for the conformational flexibility of this region of polypeptide chain, which is thought to play an important part in the movement of the lipoyl domain required for active site coupling in the enzyme complex.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Metabolic substrates such as octanoate, beta-hydroxybutyrate, and alpha-ketoisocaproate which produce acetoacetate stimulate the rate of pyruvate decarboxylation in perfused livers from fed rats at perfusate pyruvate concentrations in the physiological range (below 0.2 mM). A quantitative relationship between pyruvate oxidation (14CO2 production from [1-14C]pyruvate) and ketogenesis (production of acetoacetate or total ketone bodies) was observed with all ketogenic substrates when studied over a wide range of concentrations. The ratio of extra pyruvate decarboxylated to extra acetoacetate produced was greater than 1 with octanoate and alpha-ketoisocaproate, but it was less than 1 with beta-hydroxybutyrate. The stimulatory effect of beta-hydroxybutyrate on pyruvate decarboxylation was abolished completely in the presence of 0.1 mM alpha-cyanocinnamate, an inhibitor of the pyruvate transporting system in the mitochondrial membrane. The data suggest that the mechanism by which the flux through the pyruvate dehydrogenase reaction is stimulated in liver under ketogenic conditions involves an acceleration of the net rate of pyruvate transport into the mitochondria compartment due to an exchange with acetoacetate and/or acetoacetate plus beta-hydroxybutyrate.
The kinetics of the acetylation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex from Escherichia coli by [3-14C]pyruvate and of the deacetylation of the complex by coenzyme A have been studied by using rapid mixing-quench techniques. The time course for acetylation in 4 mM thiamin pyrophosphate, 2 mM MgSO4, and 0.02 M potassium phosphate (pH 7.0) at 4 degrees C can be analyzed in terms of two kinetic processes. At long times 10 nmol of acetyl groups is incorporated per mg of enzyme complex (48 sites per complex of molecular weight 4.8 X 10(6)). The slower process is much too slow to be of catalytic significance. The rate constant for the faster process is not dependent on enzyme concentration and reaches a limiting value of 40--65 s-1 at high pyruvate concentrations; the exact value is dependent on the detailed acetylation mechanism assumed. The minimum molar turnover number of the enzyme complex is 420 s-1 (17.5 s-1 per pyruvate decarboxylase). The acetylated lipoic acids are deacetylated by coenzyme A at a rate much faster than that of acetylation. Complete deacetylation is obtained only if the deacetylation is carried out within seconds of the acetylation, apparently because dead-end intramolecular transfers of acetyl groups from the lipoic acids to other functional groups on the enzyme not essential for catalytic activity can occur. The results obtained suggest only about half of the acetylation reactions are on the main catalytic pathway.
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