Amino acid substitutions at the subunit interface of dimeric Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase cause reduced structural stability.

The consequences of amino acid substitutions at the dimer interface for the strength of the interactions between the monomers and for the catalytic function of the dimeric enzyme alkaline phosphatase from Escherichia coli have been investigated. The altered enzymes R10A, R10K, R24A, R24K, T59A, and R10A/R24A, which have amino acid substitutions at the dimer interface, were characterized using kinetic assays, ultracentrifugation, and transverse urea gradient gel electrophoresis. The kinetic data for the wild-type and altered alkaline phosphatases show comparable catalytic behavior with k(cat) values between 51.3 and 69.5 s(-1) and Km values between 14.8 and 26.3 microM. The ultracentrifugation profiles indicate that the wild-type enzyme is more stable than all the interface-modified enzymes. The wild-type enzyme is dimeric in the pH range of pH 4.0 and above, and disassembled at pH 3.5 and below. All the interface-modified enzymes, however, are apparently monomeric at pH 4.0, begin assembly at pH 5.0, and are not fully assembled into the dimeric form until pH 6.0. The results from transverse urea gradient gel electrophoresis show clear and reproducible differences both in the position and the shape of the unfolding patterns; all these modified enzymes are more sensitive to the denaturant and begin to unfold at urea concentrations between 1.0 and 1.5 M; the wild-type enzyme remains in the folded high mobility form beyond 2.5 M urea. Alkaline phosphatase H370A, modified at the active site and not at the dimer interface, resembles the wild-type enzyme both in ultracentrifugation and electrophoresis studies. The results obtained suggest that substitution of a single amino acid at the interface sacrifices not only the integrity of the assembled dimer, but also the stability of the monomer fold, even though the activity of the enzyme at optimal pH remains unaffected and does not appear to depend on interface stability.

Mapping single cysteine mutants of light chain 2 in chicken skeletal myosin.

The NH2- and COOH-terminal regions of the regulatory light chain (LC2) have been mapped to the head/rod junction by immunoelectron microscopy, using monoclonal and anti-fluorescyl antibodies as probes. In order to map the entire length of the light chain, we have engineered and purified mutants that contain a single cysteine residue at positions 2, 73, 94, 126, or 155. The single cysteine residues were labeled with either 5-iodoacetamido fluorescein or N-ethylmaleimide-biotin. We observed that the reactivity of Cys126 is far greater than that of Cys155, confirming that cysteine 126 is the fast-reacting thiol in wild-type light chain. The labeled light chains were exchanged into myosin stripped of its native LC2 by immunoaffinity chromatography, and the reconstituted myosin was reacted with anti-fluorescein antibody or avidin prior to rotary shadowing for electron microscopy. The position of the antibody or avidin was found to be near the head/rod junction for all mutants. These mapping studies, together with our finding that cysteines widely separated in the primary sequence can form multiple disulfide bonds (Saraswat, L.D., and Lowey, S. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 226, 19777-19785), support a model for LC2 as a flexible, globular molecule localized mainly in the vicinity of the head/rod junction of myosin.

Myosin subunit interactions. Properties of the 19,000-dalton light chain-deficient myosin.

The 19,000-dalton light chain (LC2) can be completely and reversibly removed from chicken pectoralis myosin in 1 mM EDTA and 5 mM ATP using immunoaffinity chromatography at 37 degrees C. Earlier methods have led to only partial removal of LC2 or have caused limited degradation of the heavy chain. Electron microscopy of LC2-deficient myosin showed it to have a marked tendency to aggregate into oligomers through the "neck" region of the myosin head. Myosin reverted to the monomeric form when it was reconstituted with light chains. LC2-deficient myosin retained full K+ (EDTA) or Ca2+-ATPase activity, and the actin-activated Mg2+-ATPase was similar to that of the native molecule. Alkali light chain exchange at 37 degrees C, which has been demonstrated in subfragment 1 prepared with chymotrypsin, does not occur with intact myosin molecules or with papain subfragment 1, both of which contain LC2. However, a temperature-dependent exchange of alkali light chains was observed in myosin lacking LC2. The interaction of the alkali light chain with the heavy chain thus appears to be influenced by the presence of LC2, which may have an important stabilizing effect on the myosin molecule.

Oligomeric structure of the multifunctional protein CAD that initiates pyrimidine biosynthesis in mammalian cells.

The first three steps in mammalian de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis are catalyzed by the multifunctional protein designated CAD. Regions of the single 240-kDa poly-peptide chain are folded into separate structural domains that have discrete functions. Previous studies suggested that CAD forms predominantly trimers. The trimers are found to be in slow equilibrium with hexamers and higher oligomers composed of multiples of three copies of the CAD polypeptide chain. However, quantitative chemical crosslinking studies of CAD with dimethyl suberimidate were used here to show a progressive conversion of monomer to crosslinked hexamer. High levels of the hexamer accumulate in the reaction mixture, suggesting that the major oligomeric form is hexameric, although residual amounts of smaller oligomers remain present. Larger oligomers may form by association of hexamers and are seen after longer crosslinking times. Sucrose gradient centrifugation shows a 20.8S species to be the slowest sedimenting peak, while the larger species sediments at 27.9S. Electron microscopic studies of rotary-shadowed preparations of CAD have confirmed that, while small amounts of other oligomeric forms are present, the CAD monomer is primarily associated into cyclic hexamers with an open planar appearance.

Assembly and kinetic properties of myosin light chain isozymes from fast skeletal muscle.

Myosin from chicken pectoralis muscle consists of isozymes that differ in their alkali light chains. It is possible to isolate alkali 1 (A1) and alkali 2 (A2) homodimers of native myosin by immunoadsorption methods, and to compare their steady-state kinetics as well as their assembly into synthetic filaments under a variety of ionic conditions. Bipolar filaments of the isozymes formed at low salt concentrations had a narrow length distribution and did not differ from controls made from unfractionated myosin. Chicken myosin also assembles into highly homogeneous minifilaments similar to those formed by rabbit myosin in a citrate/Tris buffer. Analytical ultracentrifugation and electron microscopy showed that A1-homodimer, A2-homodimer and unfractionated myosin assembled into 0.3 micron short, bipolar minifilaments, which were indistinguishable from one another in size and shape. The steady-state myosin ATPase activity of the two homodimeric isozymes was identical in K+(EDTA) and Ca2+ assay media. The actomyosin Mg2+ ATPase measured at 25 and 55 mM-KCl (pH 8.0) showed only minor differences in both Vmax and Kapp. Actomyosin activity was also determined for the more homogeneous minifilament preparations of the isozymes and these, as well, produced essentially indistinguishable kinetic parameters. Thus we find no evidence to support the hypothesis that a particular alkali light chain of myosin can affect either the structure of the filaments or the steady-state rate of ATP hydrolysis.

The effect of pH on the cooperative behavior of aspartate transcarbamylase from Escherichia coli.

Saturation curves of activity versus concentration were determined for aspartate transcarbamylase from Escherichia coli (EC 2.1.3.2) for the substrate L-aspartate at saturating carbamyl phosphate (4.8 mM) in buffered solution at pH values from 6.0 to 12.0. Hill coefficients were obtained from the sigmoidal curves. At pH values from 7.8 to 9.1, where substrate inhibition causes difficulties in the Hill approximation, our kinetic scheme includes substrate inhibition and residual activity in the abortive enzyme-substrate complex. The plot of Hill coefficient versus pH has pKalpha values of 7.4 and 9.8 at the half-maximum positions of the curve which has a plateau from pH 8.1 to 9.1. These pKalpha values may be associated with functional groups involved in the allosteric transition which activates the enzyme. A plot of [S]0.5 versus pH shows a pKalpha of 8.5, which may belong to a residue either at or near the aspartate binding site. At 50 mM aspartate concentration the pH-rate profile shows maxima at pH values of 8.8 and 10.0 (cf. Weitzman, P.D.J., and Wilson, I.B.(1966)J. Biol. Chem. 2418 5481-5488, who used 100 mM aspartate). However, when the pH-dependent substrate inhibition is included, the calculated Vmax--H curve is bell-shaped like that of the isolated catalytic subunit.

Isolation and properties of a species produced by the partial dissociation of aspartate transcarbamylase from Escherichia coli.

A species produced by the reaction of aspartate transcarbamylase (C6R6) with 6 to 12 eq of p-hydroxymercuribenzoate was isolated by DEAE-Sephadex chromatography. Purified material was completely dissociated with mercurials and the relative amounts of catalytic (C) and regulatory (R) subunits were determined by three methods: (a) quantitative cellulose acetate electrophoresis; (b) Lowry analysis after separating the catalytic and regulatory subunits by sucrose gradient centrifugation; (c) dissociation of the species with sodium dodecyl sulfate and determination of the relative amounts of catalytic and regulatory chain by sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis. All three methods gave consistent results, indicating that the molecule consists of 75% (by weight) catalytic chain and 25% regulatory chain. The molecular weight determined by gel filtration, sedimentation velocity, and sedimentation equilibrium experiments was found to be approximately 270,000. These observations establish that this species has the structure C6R4, and is produced by the release of a single regulatory dimer R2 from the intact aspartate transcarbamylase complex. This protein (C6R4) contains 20 cysteines and four zinc ions, consistent with the proposed subunit structure. The purified intermediate C6R4 contains no mercury. The parent molecule C6R6 can be reconstituted from C6R4 by incubation with isolated regulatory subunit (R2) in the presence of zinc and beta-mercaptoethanol. Titration of C6R4 yields an end point which corresponds to the addition of 1 mol of regulatory subunit (R2) per mol of C6R4. The intermediate is quite stable at neutral pH but tends to disproportionate into aspartate transcarbamylase and catalytic subunit after prolonged storage or at elevated pH. The kinetic properties of this species have been investigated. The specific activity of C6R4 is virtually identical with that of the native enzyme but the regulatory properties are substantially reduced. Both homotropic and heterotropic interactions are reduced but not abolished, indicating that the intact structure C6R6 is not required for the allosteric transitions involved in regulation.

An intermediate complex in the dissociation of aspartate transcarbamylase.

The multisubunit enzyme aspartate transcarbamylase consists of six copies of two types of polypeptide chains, catalytic (C) and regulatory (R). A complex formed by the partial dissociation of this enzyme has been isolated. This species, which has the structure C(6)R(4), is a likely intermediate in the stepwise dissociation of aspartate transcarbamylase induced by mercurials. The formation of the complex is the result of the release of a single regulatory dimer (R(2)) from the parent molecule.The specific activity of the intermediate is essentially the same as that of aspartate transcarbamylase. By contrast, both homotropic and heterotropic interactions are reduced, but not abolished. These observations suggest that the allosteric transitions involved in the control mechanisms do not require the intact structure C(6)R(6).