Opticin binds to heparan and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans.

PURPOSE: The extracellular matrix glycoprotein opticin is a small leucine-rich repeat proteoglycan/protein family member that was discovered associated with vitreous humor collagen fibrils. Opticin is present throughout the vitreous, but is particularly concentrated at the internal limiting lamina, where it colocalizes with type XVIII collagen. The present study investigated whether opticin interacts directly with the heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycan type XVIII collagen. METHODS: Solid-phase opticin binding assays were performed with immobilized type XVIII collagen and heparin albumin. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was used to investigate the binding of opticin to heparin and HS. RESULTS: Opticin bound to type XVIII collagen via its HS chains. SPR showed that opticin bound to porcine intestinal mucosa HS and heparin with moderately high affinity (K(D) 73 and 43 nM, respectively). Binding inhibition studies showed that hexasaccharides of heparin had a lower affinity for opticin than larger oligosaccharides; the sulfate groups of heparin contributed variably to opticin binding, with the group at ring position two of iduronate contributing least; and chondroitin sulfate A and B bound to opticin, whereas binding to chondroitin sulfate C and hyaluronan was not observed. CONCLUSIONS: Opticin binds to heparin, HS, chondroitin 4-sulfate, and dermatan sulfate, the binding affinity being dependent on sulfation pattern and oligosaccharide chain length. Opticin may provide a link between cortical vitreous collagen fibrils and the inner limiting lamina by binding HS proteoglycans and stabilize vitreous gel structure by binding chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans.

Serine acetyltransferase of Escherichia coli: substrate specificity and feedback control by cysteine.

Although SAT (serine acetyltransferase) of Escherichia coli, which catalyses the first step in cysteine synthesis, proceeds via a random-order ternary complex reaction mechanism [Hindson and Shaw (2003) Biochemistry 42, 3113-3119], it has been suggested that the nearly identical enzyme from Salmonella typhimurium might involve an acetyl-enzyme intermediate [Leu and Cook (1994) Protein Peptide Lett. 1, 157-162]. In this study the alternative acetyl acceptor threonine and the alternative acyl donor, propionyl-CoA were used to further investigate the reaction mechanism of SAT from E. coli. Steady-state kinetic data and dead-end inhibition studies were again diagnostic of a random-order ternary complex reaction mechanism for alternative substrates. Since earlier kinetic studies with SAT from S. typhimurium suggested that cysteine competes with acetyl-CoA for binding, rather than serine with which it is isostructural, the specificity of the serine-binding pocket was assessed with three substrate mimics; beta-hydroxypropionic acid, glycine and ethanolamine. The data show that SAT interacts productively with the amino and hydroxymethyl moieties of serine, whereas the carboxyl group provides an essential contribution to binding strongly, supporting a view that cysteine will interact productively at the serine-binding site. Furthermore, since the hydroxymethyl contact region of the serine-binding site appears able to accommodate the methylene and acetyl moeties of threonine and O -acetyl-serine respectively, the site is unlikely to provide obligatory short-range contacts with the hydroxyl group of serine, a prerequisite for exclusion of cysteine. Such a proposal is supported by the results of micro-calorimetric studies which show that cysteine competes with serine for binding to SAT rather than with CoA. It follows that tight binding of cysteine at the serine-binding site near the catalytic centre may be the effector of a substantial reduction in the affinity of SAT for CoA, yielding the observed pattern of steady-state inhibition and the mechanism by which cysteine mediates effective end-product control of its synthesis.

Random-order ternary complex reaction mechanism of serine acetyltransferase from Escherichia coli.

Although serine acetyltransferase (SAT) from Escherichia coli is homologous with a number of bacterial enzymes that catalyze O-acetyl transfer by a sequential (ternary complex) mechanism, it has been suggested, from experiments with the nearly identical enzyme from Salmonella typhimurium, that the reaction could proceed via an acetyl-enzyme intermediate. To resolve the matter, the E. coli gene for SAT was overexpressed and the enzyme purified 13-fold to homogeneity. The results of a steady-state kinetic analysis of the forward reaction are diagnostic for a ternary complex mechanism, and the response of SAT to dead-end inhibitors indicates a random order for the addition of substrates. The linearity of primary double-reciprocal plots, in the presence and absence of dead-end inhibitors, argues that interconversion of ternary complexes is not significantly faster than kcat, whereas substrate inhibition by serine suggests that breakdown of the SAT.CoA binary complex is rate-determining. The results of equilibrium isotope exchange experiments, for both half-reactions, rule out a "ping-pong" mechanism involving an acetyl-enzyme intermediate, and a pre-steady-state kinetic analysis of the turnover of AcCoA supports such a conclusion. Kinetic data for the reverse reaction (acetylation of CoA by O-acetylserine) are also consistent with a steady-state random-order mechanism, wherein both the breakdown of the SAT*serine complex and the interconversion of ternary complexes are partially rate-determining.