E. coli alkaline phosphatase

The Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase (li coli AP) is the most extensively studied phosphatase, and perhaps the most studied two-metal ion catalyst.68,91 95 The AP-catalyzed reaction proceeds via an intermediate in which a serine residue (Ser-102 in E. coli AP) is phosphorylated. Thus, the stereochemical outcome of the overall reaction is retention. The hydrolysis of the intermediate by water to produce inorganic phosphate competes with phosphoryl transfer to other acceptors such as alcohols or nucleophilic buffers if such are present in solution. The rate-limiting step... 

While having three metal ions in an enzyme active site is uncommon, it is not unique to PLCBc. The well-known alkaline phosphatase from E. coli (APase) contains two zinc ions and a magnesium ion [67], whereas the a-toxin from Clostridiumperfringens [68]. and the PI nuclease from Penicillium citrinum [69] each contain three zinc ions. Indeed, the zinc ions and coordinating ligands of PI nuclease bear an uncanny resemblance to those of PLCBc as the only differ-... 

Enzyme labels are usually coupled to secondary antibodies or to (strept)avidin. The latter is used for detection of biotinylated primary or secondary antibodies in ABC methods (see Sect. 6.2.1). Enzyme labels routinely used in immunohisto-chemistry are horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase (AP). Glucose oxidase from Aspergillus niger and E. coli (3-galactosidase are only rarely applied. 

Enzymatic markers used in immunohistochemistry Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and calf intestinal or E.coli alkaline phosphatase (AP). Glucose oxidase from Aspergillus niger and E.coli /3-galactosidase are only rarely applied. 

The long-lived phosphorescence of the tryptophan in alkaline phosphatase is unusual. Horie and Vanderkooi examined whether its phosphorescence could be detected in E. coli strains which are rich in alkaline phosphatase.(89) They observed phosphorescence at 20°C with a lifetime of 1.3 s, which is comparable to the lifetime of purified alkaline phosphatase (1.4 s). Long-lived luminescence was not observed from strains deficient in alkaline phosphatase. The temperature dependence of tryptophan phosphorescence in the living cells was slightly different from that for the purified enzyme, indicating an environmental effect. 

T. Horie and J. M. Vanderkooi, Phosphorescence of alkaline phosphatase of E. coli in vitro and in situ, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 670, 290-290 (1981). 

Isolation of alkaline phosphatase from Escherichia coli in which 85% of the proline residues were replaced by 3,4-dehydro-proline affected the heat lability and ultraviolet spectrum of the protein but the important criteria of catalytic function such as the and were unaltered (12). Massive replacement of methionine by selenomethionine in the 0-galactosidase of E. coli also failed to influence the catalytic activity. Canavanine facilely replaced arginine in the alkaline phosphatase of this bacterium at least 13 and perhaps 20 to 22 arginyl residues were substituted. This replacement by canavanine caused subunit accumulation since the altered subunits did not dimerize to yield the active enzyme (21). Nevertheless, these workers stated "There was also formed, however, a significant amount of enzymatically active protein in which most arginine residues had been replaced by canavanine." An earlier study in which either 7-azatryptophan or tryptazan replaced tryptophan resulted in active protein comparable to the native enzyme (14). 

The X-ray crystal structure of the inorganic phosphate (an inhibitor) complex of alkaline phosphatase from E. coli (9) showed that the active center consists of a Zn2Mg(or Zn) assembly, where the two zinc(II) atoms are 3.94 A apart and bridged by the bidentate phosphate (which suggests a phosphomonoester substrate potentially interacting with two zinc(II), as depicted in Fig. 2), and the Mg (or the third Zn) is linked to one atom of the zinc pair by an aspartate residue at a distance... 

Considerable ingenuity was required in both the synthesis of these chiral compounds695 697 and the stereochemical analysis of the products formed from them by enzymes.698 700 In one experiment the phospho group was transferred from chiral phenyl phosphate to a diol acceptor using E. coli alkaline phosphatase as a catalyst (Eq. 12-36). In this reaction transfer of the phospho group occurred without inversion. The chirality of the product was determined as follows. It was cyclized by a nonenzymatic in-line displacement to give equimolar ratios of three isomeric cyclic diesters. These were methylated with diazomethane to a mixture of three pairs of diastereoisomers triesters. These dia-stereoisomers were separated and the chirality was determined by a sophisticated mass spectrometric analysis.692 A simpler analysis employs 31P NMR spectroscopy and is illustrated in Fig. 12-22. Since alkaline phosphatase is relatively nonspecific, most phosphate esters produced by the action of phosphotransferases can have their phospho groups transferred without inversion to 1,2-propanediol and the chirality can be determined by this method. 

The alkaline phosphatases are found in bacteria, fungi, and higher animals but not in higher plants. In E. coli alkaline phosphatase is concentrated in the peri-plasmic space. In animals it is found in the brush border of kidney cells, in cells of the intestinal mucosa, and in the osteocytes and osteoblasts of bone. It is almost absent from red blood cells, muscle, and other tissues which are not involved extensively in transport of nutrients. 

The alkaline phosphatase of E. coli is a dimer of 449-residue subunits which requires Zn2+, is allo-sterically activated by Mg2+, and has a pH optimum above 8.667/708 711 At a pH of 4, incubation of the enzyme with inorganic phosphate leads to formation of a phosphoenzyme. Using 32P-labeled phosphate, it was established that the phosphate becomes attached in ester linkages to serine 102. The same active site sequence Asp-Ser-Ala is found in mammalian alkaline phosphatases. These results, as well as the stereochemical arguments given in Section 2, suggest a double-displacement mechanism of Eq. 12-38 ... 

Figure 12-23 Schematic drawing of the product inorganic phosphate bound in the active site of E. coli alkaline phosphatase. See Ma and Kantrowitz.719...

Alkaline phosphatase from E. coli is an enzyme of the 1960 s. Although one brief reference to a phosphatase from E. coli having an alkaline pH maximum was reported in 1933 (1), it was not until the discovery by... 

Horiuchi et al. (2), and Torriani (S) that orthophosphate repressed the formation of a nonspecific phosphomonoesterase in E. coli that research on this enzyme began. This work (2, 3) showed a maximum rate of synthesis of the enzyme occurred only when the phosphate concentration became low enough to limit cell growth. With sufficient phosphate, the amount of active enzyme is negligible. Under conditions of limiting phosphate, alkaline phosphatase accounts for about 6% of the total protein synthesized by the cell (4). 

Although the enzyme sediments with intact cells, alkaline phosphatase appears in the supernate when broken cells are centrifuged. Malamy and Horecker (5) discovered that alkaline phosphatase is quantitatively released from the cell when E. coli are converted to spheroplasts by lysozyme and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) in a sucrose medium. This evidence, supported by the observation that substrates such as glucose 6-phosphate are rapidly hydrolyzed by intact cells with release of most of the phosphate into the medium, led Malamy and Horecker (6) to suggest that alkaline phosphatase is localized in the periplasmic space, a region described by Mitchell (7) as lying between the protoplasmic membrane and the wall layer, and that it is not in association with the wall (8). 

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