Effectors

Arsenic. Arsenic is under consideration for inclusion as an essential element. No clear role has been estabHshed, but aresenic, long thought to be a poison, may be involved in methylation of macromolecules and as an effector of methionine metaboHsm (158,160). Most research has focused on the toxicity or pharmaceutical properties of arsenic (158). 

Molybdate is also known as an inhibitor of the important enzyme ATP sulfurylase where ATP is adenosine triphosphate, which activates sulfate for participation in biosynthetic pathways (56). The tetrahedral molybdate dianion, MoO , substitutes for the tetrahedral sulfate dianion, SO , and leads to futile cycling of the enzyme and total inhibition of sulfate activation. Molybdate is also a co-effector in the receptor for steroids (qv) in mammalian systems, a biochemical finding that may also have physiological implications (57). 

Fig. 10. The receptor—G-protein sequence. An activated receptor interacts with the trimeric GDP-ligated receptor to cause an interchange of GDP by GTP and dissociation into the activated Ga—GTP (left) and G y (right) subunits. These then interact with a variety of effectors. The purpose of the activated...

A critical component of the G-protein effector cascade is the hydrolysis of GTP by the activated a-subunit (GTPase). This provides not only a component of the amplification process of the G-protein cascade (63) but also serves to provide further measures of dmg efficacy. Additionally, the scheme of Figure 10 indicates that the coupling process also depends on the stoichiometry of receptors and G-proteins. A reduction in receptor number should diminish the efficacy of coupling and thus reduce dmg efficacy. This is seen in Figure 11, which indicates that the abiUty of the muscarinic dmg carbachol [51 -83-2] to inhibit cAMP formation and to stimulate inositol triphosphate, IP, formation yields different dose—response curves, and that after receptor removal by irreversible alkylation, carbachol becomes a partial agonist (68). 

An increasing number of diseases are known to be linked to defects in receptor stmcture, function, or coupling. The defects may He at several locations in the stmcture of the receptor, which may alter its abiHty either to bind dmgs, to be inserted into the membrane, or to couple to effectors (including G-proteins) in the coupling protein or in the presence of autoantibodies, which can proceed to activate, block, or lyse the receptors and its components (96—99). 

Many kinds of amino acids (eg, L-lysine, L-omithine, t-phenylalanine, L-threonine, L-tyrosine, L-valine) are accumulated by auxotrophic mutant strains (which are altered to require some growth factors such as vitamins and amino acids) (Table 6, Primary mutation) (22). In these mutants, the formation of regulatory effector(s) on the amino acid biosynthesis is genetically blocked and the concentration of the effector(s) is kept low enough to release the regulation and iaduce the overproduction of the corresponding amino acid and its accumulation outside the cells (22). 

The allosteric effect is seen in hemoglobin which can exist in two quaternary stmctural states oxygenated (R) or deoxygenated (T). The binding of one O2 or some other effector to one of the subunits stabilizes the R form as compared to the T form. Binding of a second and third O2 stabilizes it even further. 

Effector molecules switch allosteric proteins between R and T states... 

The two states have the same affinity for ATP but differ with respect to their affinity for the substrate F6P, the allosteric effector ADP and the inhibitor PEP. Because of these differences in affinity, ligand binding can shift the equilibrium between the R and T states to favor one or the other state depending on which ligand is bound. 

Figure 6.25 Schematic diagram of the structure of one dimer of phosphofructokinase. Each polypeptide chain is folded Into two domains (blue and red, and green and brown), each of which has an oi/p structure. Helices are labeled A to M and p strands 1 to 11 from the amino terminus of one polypeptide chain, and respectively from A to M and 1 to 11 for the second polypeptide chain. The binding sites of substrate and effector molecules are schematically marked In gray. The effector site of one subunit is linked to the active site of the other subunit of the dimer through the 6-F loop between helix F and strand 6. (Adapted from T. Schlrmer and P.R. Evans, Nature 343 140-145, 1990.)...

The basic kinetic properties of this allosteric enzyme are clearly explained by combining Monod s theory and these structural results. The tetrameric enzyme exists in equilibrium between a catalytically active R state and an inactive T state. There is a difference in the tertiary structure of the subunits in these two states, which is closely linked to a difference in the quaternary structure of the molecule. The substrate F6P binds preferentially to the R state, thereby shifting the equilibrium to that state. Since the mechanism is concerted, binding of one F6P to the first subunit provides an additional three subunits in the R state, hence the cooperativity of F6P binding and catalysis. ATP binds to both states, so there is no shift in the equilibrium and hence there is no cooperativity of ATP binding. The inhibitor PEP preferentially binds to the effector binding site of molecules in the T state and as a result the equilibrium is shifted to the inactive state. By contrast the activator ADP preferentially binds to the effector site of molecules in the R state and as a result shifts the equilibrium to the R state with its four available, catalytically competent, active sites per molecule. 

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. 

Some of the procaryotic DNA-binding proteins are activated by the binding of an allosteric effector molecule. This event changes the conformation of the dimeric protein, causing the helix-tum-helix motifs to move so that they are 34 A apart and able to bind to the major groove. The dimeric repressor for purine biosynthesis, PurR, induces a sharp bend in DNA upon binding caused by insertion of a helices in the minor groove between the two... 

Figure 13.2 Activated G protein receptors, here represented as seven red transmembrane helices, catalyze the exchange of GTP for GDP on the Gapy trimer. The then separated Ga-GTP and Gpy molecules activate various effector molecules. The receptor is embedded in the membrane, and Ga, Gpy and G py are attached to the membrane by lipid anchors, and they all therefore move in two dimensions. (Adapted from D. Clapham, Nature 379 297-299, 1996.)...

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