Deoxyribonuclease kinetics

Protein enzymes have been classified into six major classes according to the nature of the reaction they catalyze. Enzyme Commission (EC) numbers have been assigned to all enzymes by the Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Generally, each enzyme has a unique number, but there are exceptions—the restriction enzymes which cut nucleic acids are one such exceptional group. The official name and munber for this group of enzymes (and there are thousands of them) is Type II site-specific deoxyribonuclease, EC 3.1.21.4. Many other details of enzymes and their kinetics are given in Chap. 5. 

A kinetic study on the activation of deoxyribonuclease I by magnesium has shown that the activation curve is biphasic (the substrate being the Mg salt of bovine spleen DNA). This indicates that activation occurs at two sites on the protein. Free Mg + was required for enzyme activity, confirming that a metallo-enzyme as well as a metallo-substrate is necessary for deoxyribonuclease I activity. In contrast, it has been shown that the pyrophosphatase activity of bovine brain alkaline phosphatase depends on Mg + bound to the enzyme but not on the formation of a magnesium-substrate complex. 

---