The quaternary structure of wheat-germ aspartate transcarbamoylase.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Yon RJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1158245 | biostudies-other | 1982 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Similar Datasets
Project description:1. Aspartate transcarbamoylase was purified approx. 3000-fold from wheat (Triticum vulgare) germ in 15-20% yield. The product has a specific activity of 14 mumol/min per mg of protein and is approx. 90% pure. The purification scheme includes the use of biospecific "imphilyte" chromatography as described by Yon [Biochem.J.(1977) 161, 233-237]. The enzyme was passed successively through columns of CPAD [N-(3-carboxypropionyl)aminodecyl]-Sepharose in the absence and presence respectively of the ligands UMP and L-aspartate. In the second passage the enzyme was specifically displaced away from impurities with which it co-migrated in the first passage. These two steps contributed a factor of 80 to the overall purification. 2. The enzyme is slowly inactivated on dilution at 0 degrees C and pH 7.0, the inactivation being partially reversible. A detailed investigation of the temperature- and pH-dependence of the cold-inactivation suggested that it was initiated by the perturbation of the pKa values of groups with a moderately high and positive heat of ionization, which were tentatively identified as histidine residues. These findings support a new concept of cold-lability proposed by Bock, Gilbert & Frieden [Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. (1975) 66, 564-569].
| S-EPMC1161552 | biostudies-other
Project description:Wheat-germ aspartate transcarbamoylase (EC 2.1.3.2) was inactivated by phenylglyoxal in a first-order process, provided that the inactivation time did not exceed 10 min. Apparent first-order rate constants were linearly dependent on phenylglyoxal concentration, indicating a bimolecular reaction between a single active-centre residue and phenylglyoxal, with second-order constant of 0.023 mM-1 X min-1. A plot of apparent first-order rate constant versus pH showed a steep rise above pH 9.5, indicating that the essential residue has a pKa value of 10.5 or higher, consistent with an arginine residue. Saturating concentrations of the following ligands provided a degree of protection (percentages in parentheses) against 1 mM-phenylglyoxal: N-phosphonoacetyl-L-aspartate, a bisubstrate analogue (94%); carbamoyl phosphate (75%); UMP, an end-product inhibitor (53%). Succinate (an analogue of L-aspartate) alone gave no protection, but in combination with carbamoyl phosphate raised the protection to 92%, in agreement with the known binding order of the two substrates. These results indicate that the essential arginine residue is close to the carbamoyl phosphate site, probably oriented towards the aspartate site. Attempts to desensitize the UMP-binding site by reaction with phenylglyoxal, while protecting the active centre, were unsuccessful. The essential active-centre arginine residue is compared with a similar residue in the Escherichia coli enzyme.
| S-EPMC1153023 | biostudies-other
Project description:1. Some kinetic properties of aspartate transcarbamoylase (EC 2.1.3.2), that had been purified approx. 20-fold from wheat germ, were studied. 2. A plot of enzyme activity against pH showed a low maximum at pH8.4 and a second, higher, maximum at pH10.5. A plot of percentage inhibition by 0.2mm-UMP against pH was approximately parallel to the plot of activity against pH, except that between pH6.5 and 7.5 the enzyme was insensitive to 0.2mm-UMP. 3. Kinetics were studied in detail at pH10.0 and 25 degrees C. In the absence of UMP, initial-rate plots were hyperbolic when the concentration of either substrate was varied. UMP decreased both V(max.) and K(m) in plots of initial rate against l-aspartate concentration, but the plots remained hyperbolic. However, UMP converted plots of initial rate against carbamoyl phosphate concentration into a sigmoidal shape, without significantly affecting V(max.). Plots of initial rate against UMP concentration were also sigmoidal. 4. The theoretical model proposed by Monod et al. (1965) gave a partial explanation of these results. When quasi-equilibrium conditions were assumed analysis in terms of this model suggested a trimeric enzyme binding the allosteric ligands, carbamoyl phosphate and UMP, nearly exclusively to the R and T conformational states respectively, and existing predominantly in the R state when ligands were absent. However, the values of the Hill coefficients for the co-operativity of each allosteric ligand were somewhat less than those predicted by the theory. 5. Some of the implications of these results are discussed, and the enzyme is contrasted with the well-known aspartate transcarbamoylase of Escherichia coli.
| S-EPMC1173766 | biostudies-other
Project description:1. The steady-state kinetics of the bisubstrate reaction catalysed by aspartate transcarbamoylase purified from wheat (Triticum vulgare)-germ have been studied at 25 degrees C, pH 8.5 AND I 0.10-0.12. Initial-velocity and product-inhibition results are consistent with an ordered sequential mechanism in which carbamoyl phosphate is the first substrate to bind, followed by L-aspartate, and carbamoyl aspartate is the first product to leave, followed by Pi. The order of substrate addition is supported by dead-end inhibition studies using pyrophosphate and maleate as inhibitory analogues of the substrates. Product inhibition permitted a minimum value for the dissociation constant of L-aspartate from the ternary complex to be estimated. This minimum is of the same order as the dissociation constant (Ki) of succinate. 2. A range of dicarboxy analogues of L-aspartate were tested as possible inhibitors of the enzyme. These studies suggested that L-aspartate is bound with its carboxy groups in the eclipsed configuration, and that the stereochemical constraints around the binding site are very similar to those reported for the catalytic subunit of the enzyme from Escherichia coli [Davies, Vanaman & Stark (1970) J. Biol. Chem. 245, 1175-1179].
| S-EPMC1161553 | biostudies-other
Project description:Treatment of 1 microM wheat-germ aspartate transcarbamoylase with 1 mM-pyridoxal 5'-phosphate caused a rapid loss of activity, concomitant with the formation of a Schiff base. Complete loss of activity occurred within 10 min when the Schiff base was reduced with a 100-fold excess of NaBH4. Concomitantly, one amino group per chain was modified. No further residues were modified in the ensuing 30 min. The kinetics of inactivation were examined under conditions where the Schiff base was reduced before assay. Inactivation was apparently first-order. The pseudo-first-order rate constant, kapp., showed a hyperbolic dependence upon the concentration of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, suggesting that the enzyme first formed a non-covalent complex with the reagent, modification of a lysine then proceeding within this complex. Inactivation of the enzyme by pyridoxal was 20 times slower than that by pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, indicating that the phosphate group was important in forming the initial complex. Partial protection against pyridoxal phosphate was provided by the leading substrate, carbamoyl phosphate, and nearly complete protection was provided by the bisubstrate analogue, N-phosphonoacetyl-L-aspartate, and the ligand-pair carbamoyl phosphate plus succinate. Steady-state kinetic studies, under conditions that minimized inactivation, showed that pyridoxal 5'-phosphate was also a competitive inhibitor with respect to the leading substrate, carbamoyl phosphate. Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate therefore appears to be an active-site-directed reagent. A sample of the enzyme containing one reduced pyridoxyl group per chain was digested with trypsin, and the labelled peptide was isolated and shown to contain a single pyridoxyl-lysine residue. Partial sequencing around the labelled lysine showed little homology with the sequence surrounding lysine-84, an active-centre residue of the catalytic subunit of aspartate transcarbamoylase from Escherichia coli, whose reaction with pyridoxal 5'-phosphate shows many similarities to the results described in the present paper. Arguably the reactive lysine is conserved between the two enzymes whereas the residues immediately surrounding the lysine are not. The same conclusion has been drawn in a comparison of reactive histidine residues in the two enzymes [Cole & Yon (1986) Biochemistry 25, 7168-7174].
| S-EPMC1148555 | biostudies-other
Project description:Ligand-mediated effects on the inactivation of pure wheat-germ aspartate transcarbamoylase by trypsin were examined. Inactivation was apparently first-order in all cases, and the effects of ligand concentration on the pseudo-first-order rate constant, k, were studied. Increase in k (labilization) was effected by carbamoyl phosphate, phosphate and the putative transition-state analogue, N-phosphonoacetyl-L-aspartate. Decrease in k (protection) was effected by the end-product inhibitor, UMP, and by the ligand pairs aspartate/phosphate and succinate/carbamoyl phosphate, but not by aspartate or succinate alone up to 10 mM. Except for protection by the latter ligand pairs, all other ligand-mediated effects were also observed on inactivation of the enzyme by Pronase and chymotrypsin. Ligand-mediated effects on the fragmentation of the polypeptide chain by trypsin were examined electrophoretically. Slight labilization of the chain was observed in the presence of carbamoyl phosphate, phosphate and N-phosphonoacetyl-L-aspartate. An extensive protection by UMP was observed, which apparently included all trypsin-sensitive peptide bonds. No significant effect by the ligand pair succinate/carbamoyl phosphate was noted. It is concluded from these observations that UMP triggers an extensive, probably co-operative, transition to a proteinase-resistant conformation, and that carbamoyl phosphate similarly triggers a transition to an alternative, proteinase-sensitive, conformation. These antagonistic conformational changes may account for the regulatory kinetic effects reported elsewhere [Yon (1984) Biochem. J. 221, 281-287]. The protective effect by the ligand pairs aspartate/phosphate and succinate/carbamoyl phosphate, which operates only against trypsin, is concluded to be due to local shielding of essential lysine or arginine residues in the aspartate-binding pocket of the active site, to which aspartate (or its analogue, succinate) can only bind as part of a ternary complex.
| S-EPMC1144038 | biostudies-other
Project description:Enzymes catalyze a particular reaction in cells, but only a few control the rate of this reaction and the metabolic pathway that follows. One specific mechanism for such enzymatic control of a metabolic pathway involves molecular feedback, whereby a metabolite further down the pathway acts at a unique site on the control enzyme to alter its activity allosterically. This regulation may be positive or negative (or both), depending upon the particular system. Another method of enzymatic control involves the cooperative binding of the substrate, which allows a large change in enzyme activity to emanate from only a small change in substrate concentration. Allosteric regulation and homotropic cooperativity are often known to involve significant conformational changes in the structure of the protein. Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) is the textbook example of an enzyme that regulates a metabolic pathway, namely, pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis, by feedback control and by the cooperative binding of the substrate, L-aspartate. The catalytic and regulatory mechanisms of this enzyme have been extensively studied. A series of X-ray crystal structures of the enzyme in the presence and absence of substrates, products, and analogues have provided details, at the molecular level, of the conformational changes that the enzyme undergoes as it shifts between its low-activity, low-affinity form (T state) to its high-activity, high-affinity form (R state). These structural data provide insights into not only how this enzyme catalyzes the reaction between l-aspartate and carbamoyl phosphate to form N-carbamoyl-L-aspartate and inorganic phosphate, but also how the allosteric effectors modulate this activity. In this Account, we summarize studies on the structure of the enzyme and describe how these structural data provide insights into the catalytic and regulatory mechanisms of the enzyme. The ATCase-catalyzed reaction is regulated by nucleotide binding some 60 Å from the active site, inducing structural alterations that modulate catalytic activity. The delineation of the structure and function in this particular model system will help in understanding the molecular basis of cooperativity and allosteric regulation in other systems as well.
| S-EPMC3276696 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The de novo pyrimidine-biosynthesis pathway of Plasmodium falciparum is a promising target for antimalarial drug discovery. The parasite requires a supply of purines and pyrimidines for growth and proliferation and is unable to take up pyrimidines from the host. Direct (or indirect) inhibition of de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis via dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (PfDHODH), the fourth enzyme of the pathway, has already been shown to be lethal to the parasite. In the second step of the plasmodial pyrimidine-synthesis pathway, aspartate and carbamoyl phosphate are condensed to N-carbamoyl-L-aspartate and inorganic phosphate by aspartate transcarbamoylase (PfATC). In this paper, the 2.5 Å resolution crystal structure of PfATC is reported. The space group of the PfATC crystals was determined to be monoclinic P21, with unit-cell parameters a = 87.0, b = 103.8, c = 87.1 Å, α = 90.0, β = 117.7, γ = 90.0°. The presented PfATC model shares a high degree of homology with the catalytic domain of Escherichia coli ATC. There is as yet no evidence of the existence of a regulatory domain in PfATC. Similarly to E. coli ATC, PfATC was modelled as a homotrimer in which each of the three active sites is formed at the oligomeric interface. Each active site comprises residues from two adjacent subunits in the trimer with a high degree of evolutional conservation. Here, the activity loss owing to mutagenesis of the key active-site residues is also described.
| S-EPMC4933002 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The activity and cooperativity of Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) vary as a function of pH, with a maximum of both parameters at approximately pH 8.3. Here we report the first X-ray structure of unliganded ATCase at pH 8.5, to establish a structural basis for the observed Bohr effect. The overall conformation of the active site at pH 8.5 more closely resembles the active site of the enzyme in the R-state structure than other T-state structures. In the structure of the enzyme at pH 8.5 the 80's loop is closer to its position in R-state structures. A unique electropositive channel, comprised of residues from the 50's region, is observed in this structure, with Arg54 positioned in the center of the channel. The planar angle between the carbamoyl phosphate and aspartate domains of the catalytic chain is more open at pH 8.5 than in ATCase structures determined at lower pH values. The structure of the enzyme at pH 8.5 also exhibits lengthening of a number of interactions in the interface between the catalytic and regulatory chains, whereas a number of interactions between the two catalytic trimers are shortened. These alterations in the interface between the upper and lower trimers may directly shift the allosteric equilibrium and thus the cooperativity of the enzyme. Alterations in the electropositive environment of the active site and alterations in the position of the catalytic chain domains may be responsible for the enhanced activity of the enzyme at pH 8.5.
| S-EPMC2920061 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Wheat-germ aspartate transcarbamoylase, a monofunctional trimer, is strongly inhibited by uridine 5'-monophosphate (UMP), which shows kinetic interactions with the substrate, carbamoyl phosphate, suggesting a classical allosteric mechanism of regulation. Inhibition of the purified enzyme by UMP was amplified in the presence of a variety of ionic lipids at concentrations low enough to preclude denaturation. In the absence of UMP, most of these compounds had no kinetic effect or were slightly activating. Two phospholipids did not show the effect. In a homologous series of fatty acids (C6-C16), the potentiating effect was only seen with homologues greater than C8, reaching a maximum at C12. The effect of dodecanoate (C12) on kinetic cooperativity (UMP as variable ligand) was studied. At each of several fixed concentrations of carbamoyl phosphate, dodecanoate had a pronounced effect on the half-saturating concentration of UMP, which was reduced by about half in every case, indicating substantially tighter binding of UMP. However, dodecanoate had relatively little effect on the kinetic Hill coefficient for the cooperativity of UMP. The possible metabolic significance of these effects is discussed.
| S-EPMC1216959 | biostudies-other