Apoenzyme activation

There is accumulation of the apoenzymes of biotin-dependent carboxylases in deficiency. Response to repletion is rapid, as a result of activation of the apoenzymes activation of biotin-dependent apoenzymes in vitro may provide an index of status (Section 11.4). 

A metal atom is essential to the catalytic activity of carboxypeptidase A (53). The enzyme, as isolated, contains one gram atom of zinc per molecular weight of 34,600. Removal of the metal atom, either by dialysis at low pH or by treatment with chelating agents, gives a totally inactive apoenzyme. Activity can be restored by readdition of zinc or a number of other divalent metal ions (Table VII). The dual activity of carboxypeptidase towards peptides and esters is quite sensitive to the particular activating metal ion. Thus, the cobalt enzyme has twice the activity of the native zinc enzyme toward peptides but the same activity toward esters. Characteristic peptidase and esterase activities are also observed for the and Mn enzymes as well while the Cd ", Rh ", and Pb " en-... 

Subsequently, there is a decrease in urinary excretion of the vitamin, which in mrn is followed by diminished tissue concentrations of the vitamin. The most common measurements of vitamin status are assays of circulating amounts in plasma or serum. Assays of biochemical or metabolic function of the vitamin are more likely to reflect body stores than are serum concentrations. Most of these functional assays use erythrocyte or leukocyte extracts to determine apoenzyme activity, which is dependent on the vitamin coenzyme (see Table 135-9). 

A much clearer distinction between the various electronic transitions is seen in the CD spectrum, Figure 4, as a result of the differences in sign. A very distinct negative 510 nm band develops upon chelation of the azotyrosine-248 to the active site zinc. This negative band is completely absent when the pH titration is carried out with the apoenzyme (active site Zn removed). These absorption and CD spectral observations confirm those originally made by Johansen and Vallee ( 7,8). 

C. Amplification of residual apoenzyme activity by vitamin cofactor supplementation at pharmacological doses. 

Figure 10. The G-protein cascades in smooth muscle catalyze the exchange GDP for GTP on G-protein. Following the binding of GTP, the trimeric G-protein splits into an a-GTP part and a P-y part. The a-GTP part ordinarily then combines with its specific apoenzyme to constitute the active enzyme. For the activation of the contractile activation path, the enzyme is phospholipase C and the second messenger products are IP3 and DAG. The IP3 in the myoplasm binds to Ca channels in the SR membrane, opening them. Other second messengers include the inhibitors of contractile activity, cGMP and cAMP.

D-Aminoacid oxidase has been isolated from a nnmber of yeasts, and the nucleotide sequence of the enzyme from Rhodotorula gracilis ATCC 26217 has been established (Alonso et al. 1998). The gene could be overexpressed in Escherichia coli, and levels of the enzyme were greater under conditions of low aeration the enzyme isolated from the recombinant organisms was apparently the apoenzyme since maximum activity required the presence of FAD. 

Lequea et al. used the activity of tyrosine apodecarboxylase to determine the concentration of the enzyme cofactor pyridoxal 5 -phosphate (vitamin B6). The inactive apoenzyme is converted to the active enzyme by pyridoxal 5 -phosphate. By keeping the cofactor the limiting reagent in the reaction by adding excess apoenzyme and substrate, the enzyme activity is a direct measure of cofactor concentration. The enzymatic reaction was followed by detecting tyramine formation by LCEC. The authors used this method to determine vitamin B6 concentrations in plasma samples. 

A homogeneous electrochemical enzyme immunoassay for 2,4-dinitrophenol-aminocaproic acid (DNP-ACA), has been developed based on antibody inhibition of enzyme conversion from the apo- to the holo- form Apoglucose oxidase was used as the enzyme label. This enzyme is inactive until binding of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) to form the holoenzyme which is active. Hydrogen peroxide is the enzymatic product which is detected electrochemically. Because antibody bound apoenzyme cannot bind FAD, the production of HjOj is a measure of the concentration of free DNP-ACA in the sample. 

Spin labeled 5 -deoxyadenosylcobinamide has been used as a cofactor for ethanolamine-ammonia-lyase and the ESR spectrum followed during catalysis (123). This spin labeled coenzyme is biologically active in this enzyme. Enzyme kinetics showed this derivative to have the same Vmax as the cofactor 5 -deoxyadenosylcobinamide, but it has a higher Km value of 5.1 X 10-6 M compared to 4.6 X 10-6 for 5 -deoxyadenosylcobinamide (123). When the spin labeled coenzyme was incubated with apoenzyme to give the enzyme-coenzyme complex, the nitroxide ESR spectrum resembled that of free spin label but the lines are broadened significantly. 

Enzymes may not function well or at all unless some other species known as a cofactor is present. An enzyme alone is referred to as the apoenzyme and the combination of enzyme and cofactor is known as the holoenzyme. Among the species that function as cofactors are organic compounds that interact with the enzyme. If the organic moiety is strongly attached to the enzyme, it is called a prosthetic group, but if it is loosely bound to the enzyme, it is referred to as a coenzyme. For the purposes of this discussion, the most interesting cofactors are metal ions. Depending on the type of enzyme, the appropriate metal ion cofactor may be Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, Fe2+, or Cu2+. A sizeable number of enzymes are sometimes called metalloenzymes because they have active sites that contain a metal. 

The enzyme mediating remethylation, 5-methyltetrahy-drofolate-betaine methyltransferase (Fig. 40-4 reaction 4), utilizes methylcobalamin as a cofactor. The kinetics of the reaction favor remethylation. Faulty remethylation can occur secondary to (1) dietary factors, e.g. vitamin B12 deficiency (2) a congenital absence of the apoenzyme (3) a congenital inability to convert folate or B12 to the methylated, metabolically active form (see below) or (4) the presence of a metabolic inhibitor, e.g. an antifolate agent that is used in an antineoplastic regimen. 

The inactive form GOin, which displays a typical Cu(II) EPR signal, yields upon one-electron oxidation the EPR silent active form GO0X. For many years the presence of a Cu(III) ion (ct,. S = 0) in the active site (121) of the fully oxidized state GO0X was assumed. The Whittakers (122) showed in 1990 that one-electron oxidation of the copper depleted apoenzyme of GO produced an EPR active, remarkably stable Tyr radical that was studied by UV-vis, EPR, and ENDOR spectroscopy. From these studies, they concluded that the thioether modified Tyr 272 was oxidized and, consequently, they proposed that GOcx contains a Tyr 272 radical coordinated to a Cu(II) ion. 

Pyridoxal Phosphate.—Analogues of pyridoxal and pyridoxamine 5 -phosphates have frequently been used to probe the size and shape of the active sites of a number of enzymes. For example, the apoenzyme of a tryptophanase from Bacillus alvei will bind pyridoxal 5 -phosphate as well as the 2-nor, 2 -methyl, 2 -hydroxy, 6-methyl, and A-oxide analogues.27 No analogue that has been modified at C-4 binds to the enzyme, confirming the absolute requirement for Schiff-base formation between the... 

Coenzyme An organic nonprotein molecule, frequently a phosphorylated derivative of a water-soluble vitamin, that binds with the protein molecule (apoenzyme) to form the active enzyme (holoenzyme). [EU]... 

The investigation of the aminotransferase activity of apple ACS carried out by Feng et al reveals that it is able to reductively aminate PLP to PMP by transamination of some L-amino acids to their corresponding a-keto acids. The enzyme has shown substrate specificity with the preference of Ala > Arg > Phe > Asp. The addition of excess pyruvate causes a conversion of the PMP form of the enzyme back to the PLP form. The quite unstable PMP form of ACS can generate apoenzyme, which captures PLP to restore its physiologically active form. 

Coenzymes facilitate chemical reactions through a range of different reaction mechanisms, some of which will be discussed in detail in this review. However, in all cases structural features of the coenzyme allow particular reactions to proceed along a mechanistic pathway in which reaction intermediates are more thermodynamically and kinetically accessible. When incorporated into apoen-zyme active sites, the coenzyme reactivity is influenced by a well-defined array of amino acid functional groups. For a given coenzyme, the particular array of amino acids presented by the different apoenzymes can drastically alter the degree of rate acceleration and product turnover and can specify the nature of the reaction catalyzed. 

The reaction path of thiamine-dependent catalysis is essentially unchanged in the presence of an apoenzyme, except that the enzyme active site residues increase reaction rates and yields and influence the substrate and product specificity. The X-ray crystal structures of TDP-dependent enzymes have clarified this view and permitted an understanding of the roles of the individual amino acids of the active site in activating and controlling the thiazolium reactivity [36-40]. 

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