Allosteric groups

Intragenome activator B activates (derepresses) gene loci (operons) x, y, z, and i, each of which has an operator (receptor) reacting with activator B or linking with repressors (or sites of their synthesis) for loci x, y, z, and i, if they have two allosteric groups one different for all the loci x, y, z, and i, and the other identical in all of them for attachment to the activator B. 

The group of Phil Evans, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK, has determined x-ray structures of bacterial PFK both in the R and the T states. These studies have confirmed the above conclusions and given insight into how an allosteric enzyme accomplishes its complex behavior. 

Many biochemical and biophysical studies of CAP-DNA complexes in solution have demonstrated that CAP induces a sharp bend in DNA upon binding. This was confirmed when the group of Thomas Steitz at Yale University determined the crystal structure of cyclic AMP-DNA complex to 3 A resolution. The CAP molecule comprises two identical polypeptide chains of 209 amino acid residues (Figure 8.24). Each chain is folded into two domains that have separate functions (Figure 8.24b). The larger N-terminal domain binds the allosteric effector molecule, cyclic AMP, and provides all the subunit interactions that form the dimer. The C-terminal domain contains the helix-tum-helix motif that binds DNA. 

A model for the allosteric behavior of hemoglobin is based on recent observations that oxygen is accessible only to the heme groups of the a-chains when hemoglobin is in the T conformational state. Perutz has pointed out that the heme environment of /3-chains in the T state is virtually inaccessible because of steric hindrance by amino acid residues in the E helix. This hindrance dis-... 

Pyruvate kinase possesses allosteric sites for numerous effectors. It is activated by AMP and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate and inhibited by ATP, acetyl-CoA, and alanine. (Note that alanine is the a-amino acid counterpart of the a-keto acid, pyruvate.) Furthermore, liver pyruvate kinase is regulated by covalent modification. Flormones such as glucagon activate a cAMP-dependent protein kinase, which transfers a phosphoryl group from ATP to the enzyme. The phos-phorylated form of pyruvate kinase is more strongly inhibited by ATP and alanine and has a higher for PEP, so that, in the presence of physiological levels of PEP, the enzyme is inactive. Then PEP is used as a substrate for glucose synthesis in the pathway (to be described in Chapter 23), instead... 

Further, for studying the role of pH and salt concentrations on bulk-electrostatic and non-bulk electrostatic contributions the same approach was made to experiments on the influence of the alcohols mentioned above on the oxygen affinity at various KC1 concentrations and pH-values 144,146). The results obtained indicate that at a low alcohol concentration the bulk-electrostatic contributions are dominant and that with increasing size of the alkyl group, alcohol and KC1 concentration, the nonbulk electrostatic, hydrophobic contributions increase. Recent results of kinetic measurements of 02 release show that cosolvents such as alcohols and formamide influence mainly the allosteric parameter L, i.e. -the equilibrium between T and R conformation and that the separation of the alcohol effects into bulk-electrostatic and hydrophobic (non-bulk electrostatic) contributions is justified. 

Protein phosphorylation-dephosphorylation is a highly versatile and selective process. Not all proteins are subject to phosphorylation, and of the many hydroxyl groups on a protein s surface, only one or a small subset are targeted. While the most common enzyme function affected is the protein s catalytic efficiency, phosphorylation can also alter the affinity for substrates, location within the cell, or responsiveness to regulation by allosteric ligands. Phosphorylation can increase an enzyme s catalytic efficiency, converting it to its active form in one protein, while phosphorylation of another converts it into an intrinsically inefficient, or inactive, form (Table 9—1). 

An application of this synthetic strategy by the same group led to the development of a series of potent and selective allosteric Akt (protein kinase B/PKB) kinase inhibitors that induced apoptosis in tumor cells and inhibited Akt phosphorylation in vivo (Scheme 6.261) [451]. 

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