Mechanical effects on the kinetics of the HIV proteinase deactivation.

The proteinase from HIV undergoes rapid and irreversible deactivation caused by mild mechanical stirring. Both the free enzyme and the ternary Michaelis complex disappear in two separate first-order processes, with half-times of 3.0 and 0.8 minutes, respectively. Ignoring these deactivation steps distorts the results of kinetic analyses.

Inhibition of human steroid 5alpha reductases type I and II by 6-aza-steroids: structural determinants of one-step vs two-step mechanism.

We have discovered that 17beta-[N,N-(diethyl)carbamoyl]-6-azaandrost-4-en-3-one is a time-dependent inhibitor of type II 5alpha-reductase, as is the drug finasteride. Unlike finasteride, the 6-aza-steroid is not a time-dependent inhibitor of type I 5 alpha-reductase. Finasteride inhibition of type II enzyme proceeds in a two-step mechanism. At pH 6 and 37 degrees C, an initial finasteride-reductase complex is formed with a K(i)(app) of 11.9 +/- 4.1 nM. In a second step, an irreversible complex is formed with a rate constant of inactivation of 0.09 +/- 0.01 s(-1). In contrast, the 6-aza-steroid is a reversible inhibitor. From the results of a simplified mathematical analysis, based on the rapid equilibrium approximation, the inhibitor and the enzyme form an initial complex with a K(i) of 6.8 +/- 0.2 nM. The reversible formation of a final complex, with an overall K(i) of 0.07 +/- 0.02 nM, is characterized by a first-order isomerization rate constant 0.0035 +/- 0.0001 s(-1) for the forward step and 0.00025 +/- 0.00006 s(-1) for the backward step. All rate constants for the two-step mechanism were obtained by using a general numerical integration method. The best fit values for the association and dissociation rate constants were 5.0 microM(-1) s(-1) and 0.033 +/- 0.008 s(-1), respectively, and the isomerization rate constants were 0.0035 +/- 0.007 s(-1) and 0.000076 +/- 0.000019 s(-1). These values correspond to an initial K(i) of 6.5 nM and an overall dissociation constant of 0.14 nM. The data presented here show that both finasteride and the 6-aza-steroid analogs are potent against type II 5alpha-reductase, although their mechanisms of inhibition are different.

Increase in fluorescence upon the hydrolysis of tyrosine peptides: application to proteinase assays.

The intrinsic fluorescence of tyrosine increases by a factor of approximately two when the carboxy group is liberated from a peptide bond by hydrolysis. The increase in fluorescence provides a novel way to monitor the hydrolysis of native tyrosine peptides that contain only proteinogenic amino acids. Thus, for example, the hydrolysis by HIV-1 proteinase of a heptapeptide viral protein fragment gag129-135, Ser-Gln-Asn-Tyr-Pro-Ile-Val, was followed continuously at excitation and emission wavelengths 275 and 305 nm. The fluorescence increase is magnified by at least a factor of a thousand when a resonance energy quencher, such as paranitrophenylalanine, is in the vicinity. For example, the peptide Lys-Ala-Arg-Val-Tyr-Phe(p-NO2)-Glu-Ala-Nle-NH2 [Richards et al. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 7733], widely used for spectrophotometric assays of the HIV-1 proteinase, yields a substrate:product fluorescence ratio greater than 1:1000. Tyrosine-containing substrates of pepsin and trypsin showed similar behavior. The detection limit of the present method is at least one order of magnitude lower than absorbance assays of p-nitrophenylalanine peptides.