Enzyme stabilization, inhibited dissociation

Until now our discussions of enzyme inhibition have dealt with compounds that interact with binding pockets on the enzyme molecule through reversible forces. Hence inhibition by these compounds is always reversed by dissociation of the inhibitor from the binary enzyme-inhibitor complex. Even for very tight binding inhibitors, the interactions that stabilize the enzyme-inhibitor complex are mediated by reversible forces, and therefore the El complex has some, nonzero rate of dissociation—even if this rate is too slow to be experimentally measured. In this chapter we turn our attention to compounds that interact with an enzyme molecule in such a way as to permanendy ablate enzyme function. We refer to such compounds as enzyme inactivators to stress the mechanistic distinctions between these molecules and reversible enzyme inhibitors. 

The activities of NHases from Rhodococcus sp. Adpl2 and Gordonia sp. BR-1 strains have been partially characterized [25]. In reactions that catalyze the hydration of a-hydroxynitriles such as lactonitrile or glycolonitrile, the substrate can dissociate to produce HCN and the corresponding aldehydes. HCN can inhibit and/or inactivate NHase, and it was determined that these two enzymes remain active in the presence of cyanide ion at concentrations up to 20 him. The dependence of the NHase activity of cell-free extracts of Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 and Gordonia sp. BR-1 on cyanide ion concentration is illustrated in Figure 8.1, demonstrating the improved cyanide stability of BR-1 NHase relative to that of Jl. 

Carpenter et al. [1.120] found that certain polymers (e. g. PVP) could stabilize multimeric enzymes during freezing and freeze drying by a different mechanism They cannot replace water molecules in the dried state therefore it is assumed that they inhibited the dissociation of the enzymes molecules induced by freezing and freeze drying. 

The original interest in avidin was because of the egg white injury that was subsequently shown to be avidin-induced biotin deficiency. Thereafter, avidin was used because of its high affinity for biotin (a dissociation constant of 10 mol per L), not only to induce experimental biotin deficiency, but also to bind to biotin in isolated enzymes and thus, by irreversible inhibition, demonstrate the coenzyme role of biotin. Because of the stability of the avidin-biotin complex, it has not been possible to use immobilized avidin as a means of purifying biotin enzymes - there seems to be no way in which the enzyme can be released from avidin binding. Because of its high affinity for biotin, avidin is used to provide an extremely sensitive system for linking reporter molecules in a variety of analytical systems. 

Metal-enzyme complexes, a subgroup of metal-protein complexes, exhibit enzymatic activity consequent to readily dissociable combination with a variety of metal ions. Many of these studies have been performed with unpurified enzymes, and, even when pure enzymes were used, the stoichiometry of the interaction of the metal and enzyme has not been measured. Enhancement of enzymatic activity as a result of the addition of metal ions and its partial loss on their removal has been the chief criterion of assessment of physiological significance. Only in a few instances, e.g., enolase, has the stability and stoichiometry been studied in relation to function (Malmstrom, 1953, 1954). The study of metal complexes and particularly metal chelates (Bjerrum, 1941 Martell and Calvin, 1952 Calvin, 1954) has provided both new experimental and new theoretical backgrounds for the study of metals in relation to the specificity of enzyme action, metal-enzyme (Calvin, 1954), metal-substrate (Najjar, 1951), and metalloenzyme interaction, as well as metal-enzyme inhibition (James, 1953). 

The pK a and therefore the physicochemical properties of a series of aminosulfonate-based compounds of phenol is correlated with the irreversible inhibition of the enzyme estrone sulfatase (ES). A strong correlation exists between the observed pK a and inhibitory activity. The stability of the phenoxide ion, as indicated by the acid dissociation constant, is an important factor in the irreversible inhibition of this enzyme. 

The enzyme is also subject to allosteric inhibition. When glucose binds at the active site, it stabiles the T-state conformation of the enzyme. The T state is also stabilised by bi- or tricyclic aromatic compounds such as caffeine or flavins, which bind at the entrance to the active site tunnel,and by acylated p-glucopyranosylamine derivatives, which bind similarly to glucose, but more tightly. A third allosteric site, formed at the interface of two subunits and normally an internal pool of water molecules , has recently been discovered in rabbit muscle phosphorylase b " and human liver phosphorylase a. Occupancy of this site freezes the enzyme in the T state and inhibitors with 10 M dissociation constants from the site are being investigated in the treatment of diabetes. 

In uncompetitive inhibition the inhibitor binds only to the enzyme-substrate complex. It does not affect the binding of enzyme to substrate, but it does prevent the complex dissociating to give product. Thus, the uncompetitive inhibitor tends to stabilize the... 

Kinetic studies of reversible inhibition by substrate analogs give evidence of the mode of action of the inhibitor and the types of enzyme-inhibitor complex formed, and estimates of their dissociation constants. The complexes may be isolated and sometimes crystallized. Studies of the stabilities, optical properties, and structures of ternary complexes of enzymes, coenzymes, and substrate analog in particular, as stable models of the catalytically active ternary complexes or of the transition state for hydride transfer (61,79,109,115-117), can only be touched upon here there is direct evidence with several enzymes that the binding of coenzymes is firmer in such complexes than in their binary complexes (85,93,118), which supports the indirect, kinetic evidence already mentioned for a similar stabilization in active ternary complexes. 

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