The treatment of purified maize oil bodies with organic solvents and exogenous diacylglycerol allows the detection and solubilization of diacylglycerol acyltransferase.

In spite of its importance in the biosynthesis of reserve oils in plants, diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DAGAT, EC 2.3.1.20) has not been purified to homogeneity, and its study has remained incomplete. We found that the microsomal preparations from developing maize embryos contained substantial amounts of endogenous diacylglycerol (DAG). A solubilization procedure for extracting DAGAT from the microsomes (D. Little, R. Weselake, K. Pomeroy, S.T. Furukawa, J. Bagu, Biochem. J. 304 (1994)) was ineffective in eliminating the endogenous DAG, even after gel filtration. DAG removal through the preparation of acetone powders from the embryos led to the loss of DAGAT activity. Labelled triacylglycerol (TAG) was produced in the standard DAGAT assay when labelled DAG was supplied in benzene solution to the freeze-dried microsomes and the sample was dried and resuspended in an aqueous buffer. In contrast, no labelled TAG was produced when a similar sample supplied with non-labelled DAG was assayed with emulsified labelled DAG and acyl-CoA. Repeated washing of the microsomal freeze-dried fraction with benzene resulted in a complete loss of DAGAT activity in the standard assay, but the activity was restored by the addition of DAG plus phosphatidylcholine or Tween 20 in benzene. Although DAGAT has been reported to be confined mainly to the endoplasmic reticulum, we found that DAGAT activity was high in the purified oil bodies from both developing and mature maize embryos and was not removed by repeated washing with 6 M urea. The DAGAT activity was restored from delipidated oil bodies and from microsomes after the preparations had been resuspended in methanol/acetic acid/water (1:1:1, v/v). Although most of the proteins in the suspension were eluted as a single peak at the void volume after gel filtration chromatography, DAGAT activity was found in later fractions. SDS-PAGE of the peak activity fraction revealed no protein bands after silver staining, and the finding suggest that DAGAT protein is of low abundance and has a high k(cat).

Proteolytic processing of dextransucrase of Leuconostoc mesenteroides.

Various dextransucrase molecular mass forms found in enzyme preparations may sometimes be products of proteolytic activity. Extracellular protease in Leuconostoc mesenteroides strains NRRL B-512F and B-512FMC dextransucrase preparations was identified. Protease had a molecular mass of 30 kDa and was the predominant form derived from a high molecular mass precursor. The production and activity of protease in culture medium was strongly dependent on pH. When L. mesenteroides dextransucrase (173 kDa) was hydrolyzed by protease, at pH 7 and 37 degrees C, various dextransucrase forms with molecular masses as low as 120 kDa conserving dextransucrase activity were obtained.

Comparison of plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity in vesicles obtained from dry and hydrated maize embryos.

ATP hydrolysis from H+-ATPase of plasma membrane was measured in vesicles from maize embryos imbibed at times between 0 and 5 h. The activity had a maximum at 2 h of imbibition. In order to detect whether the enzyme had the same characteristics through the first 5 h of imbibition, vanadate and lysophophatydilcholine sensitivities, as well as trypsin, pH and temperature effects on the activity of the H+-ATPase from plasma membrane vesicles isolated from embryos imbibed at 0 or 5 h were studied. The results indicate that the activity expressed at 0 h is very different from the activity at 5 h. The activity from embryos imbibed for 5 h was less sensitive to vanadate, trypsin and lysophosphatidylcholine, more sensitive to denaturing temperatures and with a broader pH dependence, as compared to the activity from embryos that were not imbibed. When vanadate-sensitive ATPase activity was purified by anion exchange chromatography, the peaks obtained from the 0 and 5 h imbibed embryos were different and non-overlapping. These data could be interpreted in terms of different enzyme structures from dry and imbibed embryos due to either different primary structures or covalent modifications, or differences in membrane vicinities.

Re-examination of the roles of PEP and Mg2+ in the reaction catalysed by the phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated forms of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase from leaves of Zea mays. Effects of the activators glucose 6-phosphate and glycine.

To study the effects of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and Mg2+ on the activity of the non-phosphorylated and phosphorylated forms of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) from Zea mays leaves, steady-state measurements have been carried out with the free forms of PEP (fPEP) and Mg2+ (fMg2+), both in a near-physiological concentration range. At pH 7.3, in the absence of activators, the initial velocity data obtained with both forms of the enzyme are consistent with the exclusive binding of MgPEP to the active site and of fPEP to an activating allosteric site. At pH 8.3, and in the presence of saturating concentrations of glucose 6-phosphate (Glc6P) or Gly, the free species also combined with the active site in the free enzyme, but with dissociation constants at least 35-fold that estimated for MgPEP. The latter dissociation constant was lowered to the same extent by saturating Glc6P and Gly, to approx. one-tenth and one-sixteenth in the non-phosphorylated and phosphorylated enzymes respectively. When Glc6P is present, fPEP binds to the active site in the free enzyme better than fMg2+, whereas the metal ion binds better in the presence of Gly. Saturation of the enzyme with Glc6P abolished the activation by fPEP, consistent with a common binding site, whereas saturation with Gly increased the affinity of the allosteric site for fPEP. Under all the conditions tested, our results suggest that fPEP is not able to combine with the allosteric site in the free enzyme, i.e. it cannot combine until after MgPEP, fPEP or fMg2+ are bound at the active site. The physiological role of Mg2+ in the regulation of the enzyme is only that of a substrate, mainly as part of the MgPEP complex. The kinetic properties of maize leaf PEPC reported here are consistent with the enzyme being well below saturation under the physiological concentrations of fMg2+ and PEP, particularly during the dark period; it is therefore suggested that the basal PEPC activity in vivo is very low, but highly responsive to even small changes in the intracellular concentration of its substrate and effectors.

Substrate inhibition by betaine aldehyde of betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase from leaves of Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.

We have previously proposed that at low substrate concentrations betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase follows an irreversible Iso Ordered Bi Bi Steady State kinetic mechanism with NAD+ as the leading substrate [E.M. Valenzuela-Soto and R.A. Muñoz-Clares, J. Biol. Chem. 268 (1993) 23818-23823]. To further the understanding of this enzyme, we have studied the kinetics at high substrate concentrations. Betaine aldehyde at concentrations above 500 microM behaves as a non-competitive inhibitor against NAD+, with downward-curved slope and intercept replots. Double-inhibition studies, using NADH as the second inhibitor, show the formation of the abortive ternary complex enzyme NADH betaine aldehyde, from which NADH may escape at a finite rate, accounting for the nonlinear Dixon plots obtained for both inhibitors. In addition, the binary complex enzyme x betaine aldehyde may give rise to a slower alternative route of reaction, which, under our experimental conditions, was observed at NAD+ concentrations above 1 mM, where double-reciprocal plots of initial velocity against [NAD+] and Dixon plots of 1/v against [NADH] were concave downward. In contrast with other aldehyde dehydrogenases, no 'substrate activation' by the aldehyde was observed under several conditions, which is consistent with the alternative route of reaction being slower than the route which operates at low substrate concentrations. Taken together, our results are consistent with the partial inhibition by high betaine aldehyde concentrations resulting from an irreversible Iso Random Steady State mechanism with a preferential route of reaction. Eventually, at very high betaine aldehyde concentrations, the kinetic mechanism may change to an apparent Ping Pong.

Regulation of acyltransferase activity in immature maize embryos by abscisic acid and the osmotic environment.

Maize (Zes mays L.) embryos, isolated from the developing seed and incubated in dilute buffer, show reduced triacylglycerol (TAG) synthesis, and accumulation stops after 24 h. Synthesis and accumulation can be maintained at high levels if the incubation medium contains abscisic acid (ABA) and/or a high osmotic concentration. Radiolabeled free fatty acids accumulate at higher levels in embryos that contain less TAG, and acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase activity remains essentially unchanged under all of the conditions tested. In contrast, the activities of the acyltransferases required for TAG synthesis remain high only in embryos incubated with ABA and/or a high osmotic concentration. Dose-response curves showed that 4 microM of ABA or mannitol at -1.0 MPa elicits a full response; both values are within the range considered to be physiological. The TAG synthesis capacity and discylglycerol acyltransferase activity lost by pretreatment of the embryos can be restored by re-exposure to ABA or high osmoticum. Germination is not involved because isolated scutellum halves showed the same changes in enzyme activity found in the whole embryo but did not germinate. Our results provide direct evidence for the regulation of TAG-synthesizing activities in maize embryos by ABA and the osmotic potential of the environment.

Kinetic evidence of the existence of a regulatory phosphoenolpyruvate binding site in maize leaf phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase.

Phenylphosphate, a structural analog of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), was found to be an activator of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEP carboxylase) purified from maize leaves. This finding suggested the presence in the enzyme of a regulatory site, to which PEP could bind. We carried out kinetic studies on this enzyme using controlled concentrations of free PEP and of Mg-PEP complex and developed a theoretical kinetic model of the reaction. In summary, the main conclusions drawn from our results, and taken as assumptions of the model, were the following: (i) The affinity of the active site for the complex Mg-PEP is much higher than that for free PEP and Mg2+ ions, and therefore it can be considered that the preferential substrate of the PEP-catalyzed reaction is Mg-PEP. (ii) The enzyme has a regulatory site specific for free PEP, to which Mg2+ ions can not bind. (iii) The binding of free PEP, or an analog molecule, to this regulatory site yields a modified enzyme that has much lower apparent Km values and apparent Vmax values than the unmodified enzyme. So, free PEP behaves as an excellent activator of the reaction at subsaturating substrate concentrations, and as an inhibitor at saturating substrate concentrations. These findings may have important physiological implications on the regulation of the PEP carboxylase in vivo activity and, consequently, of the C4 pathway, since increased reaction rates would be obtained when the concentration of PEP rises, even at limiting Mg2+ concentrations.