Enzyme equilibria

Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry has been utilized for the quantitative determination of ionic species, in glycerol/water solutions, which are produced by chemical and enzymic reactions. It is shown that reaction constants can be determined in this manner and that they can be accurately related to those determined by other methods used in the analysis of aqueous solutions. The reactions studied include proton dissociation constants for organic acids, an enzyme equilibrium constant, and enzyme rate constants using natural substrates. 

Sampson EJ, Baird MA, Burtis CA, Smith EM, Witte DL, Bayse DD. A coupled-enzyme equilibrium method for measuring urea in serum optimization and evaluation of the AACC Study Group on urea candidate reference method. Clin Chem 1980 26 816-26. 

Fructose 1,6-diphosphatase hydrolyses off the 1-phosphate in the step which commits the substrate to gluconeogenesis. The mammalian enzyme, a homodimer, is richly allosteric, as befits an enzyme at a metabolic branchpoint. It catalyses a single displacement, mediated by no less than four metal ions three Mg " sites and one K " site have been observed in the crystal structure. The nucleophilic water may be activated by proton transfer from Glu98. The very large claim has been made that by alteration of the conditions of crystallisation, the on-enzyme equilibrium can be switched from fructose-6-phosphate and inorganic phosphate to fructose-6-phosphate and metaphosphate. Given the... 

Pre-steady-state kinetic studies established that the appearance of the NADH chromophore on addition of substrate was a two-step process, and these steps can now be identified as closure of the active site and hydride transfer. This study indicated that the on-enzyme equilibrium for addition of water or homocysteine to the enone was close to unity (and the value in free solution), whereas the equilibrium for oxidation of NAD by bound adenosine was 10 times more favourable than in free solution. The focusing of the catalytic power of the enzyme on the oxidation step avoids the formation of abortive complexes by hydride transfer between enone and NADH, yielding 4,5-dehydroadenosine and NAD ". This happens about 10 " times faster than productive hydride transfer at the beginning and end of the catalytic cycle, with the slow rate (close to that of model reactions) apparently arising from a conformationally modulated increase in the distance the hydride has to be transferred. 

Applications of molecularly imprinted materials as selective adsorbents. Emphasis on enzymic equilibrium shifting and library screening... 

Sampson, E.J., M.A. Baird, C.A. Burtis, E.M. Smith, D.L. Witte and D.D. Bayse, 1980. A couple-enzyme equilibrium method for measuring urea in serum. Clin. Chem. 26, 816-826. 

Since an enzyme is a biological catalyst and therefore merely accelerates a reaction, it cannot alter the position of equilibrium in a reversible reaction. The hydrolysis of p-methylglucoside is reversible and emulsin should therefore be capable also of synthesising this compound frc n glucose and methanol. This synthesis can actually be carried out by the action of the enzyme on glucose dissolved in an excess of methanol, the excess of the alcohol throwing the equilibrium over to the left. Owing to experimental difficulties, this reaction is not here described. 

In the presence of the enzyme acomtase the double bond of aconitic acid undergoes hydra tion The reaction is reversible and the following equilibrium is established... 

Isopentenyl pyrophosphate undergoes an enzyme catalyzed reaction that converts It m an equilibrium process to 3 methyl 2 butenyl pyrophosphate (dimethylallyl pyrophosphate)... 

In the case of competitive inhibition, the equilibrium between the enzyme, E, the inhibitor, 1, and the enzyme-inhibitor complex, El, is described by the equilibrium constant Ki. 

Cortisol-Cortisone Conversion. Under normal conditions, this equilibrium slightly favors the oxidized compound. Similarly, the conversion of corticosterone to 11-deoxycorticosterone is also mediated by the liP-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase enzyme system and requites NAD(P) /NAD(P)H. This conversion is especially important both in the protection of the human fetus from excessive glucocorticoid exposure, and in the protection of distal nephron mineral ocorticoid receptors from glucocorticoid exposure (14). The impairment of this conversion is thought to result in hypertension associated with renal insufficiency (15). 

Hundreds of metabohc reac tions take place simultaneously in cells. There are branched and parallel pathways, and a single biochemical may participate in sever distinct reactions. Through mass action, concentration changes caused by one reac tion may effect the kinetics and equilibrium concentrations of another. In order to prevent accumulation of too much of a biochemical, the product or an intermediate in the pathway may slow the production of an enzyme or may inhibit the ac tivation of enzymes regulating the pathway. This is termed feedback control and is shown in Fig. 24-1. More complicated examples are known where two biochemicals ac t in concert to inhibit an enzyme. As accumulation of excessive amounts of a certain biochemical may be the key to economic success, creating mutant cultures with defective metabolic controls has great value to the produc tion of a given produc t. 

Reactions 1 and 2 may be assumed to be in equilibrium soon after the enzyme is exposed to its substrate. Rate equations for these reactions are ... 

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. 

Figure 18.4 The hanging-drop method of protein crystallization, (a) About 10 pi of a 10 mg/ml protein solution in a buffer with added precipitant—such as ammonium sulfate, at a concentration below that at which it causes the protein to precipitate—is put on a thin glass plate that is sealed upside down on the top of a small container. In the container there is about 1 ml of concentrated precipitant solution. Equilibrium between the drop and the container is slowly reached through vapor diffusion, the precipitant concentration in the drop is increased by loss of water to the reservoir, and once the saturation point is reached the protein slowly comes out of solution. If other conditions such as pH and temperature are right, protein crystals will occur in the drop, (b) Crystals of recombinant enzyme RuBisCo from Anacystis nidulans formed by the hanging-drop method. (Courtesy of Janet Newman, Uppsala, who produced these crystals.)...

Equation 11-15 is known as the Michaelis-Menten equation. It represents the kinetics of many simple enzyme-catalyzed reactions, which involve a single substrate. The interpretation of as an equilibrium constant is not universally valid, since the assumption that the reversible reaction as a fast equilibrium process often does not apply. 

Thus, the concentration of H2CO3 is itself buffered by the available pools of CO2. The hydration of CO2 is actually mediated by an enzyme, mrbonie anhydrase, which facilitates the equilibrium by rapidly catalyzing the reaction... 

For biochemical reactions in which hydrogen ions (H ) are consumed or produced, the usual definition of the standard state is awkward. Standard state for the ion is 1 M, which corresponds to pH 0. At this pH, nearly all enzymes would be denatured, and biological reactions could not occur. It makes more sense to use free energies and equilibrium constants determined at pH 7. Biochemists have thus adopted a modified standard state, designated with prime ( ) symbols, as in AG°, AH°, and so on. For values determined... 

This association/dissociation is assumed to be a rapid equilibrium, and is the enzyme substrate dissociation constant. At equilibrium,... 

The overall direction of the reaction will be determined by the relative concentrations of ATP, ADP, Cr, and CrP and the equilibrium constant for the reaction. The enzyme can be considered to have two sites for substrate (or product) binding an adenine nucleotide site, where ATP or ADP binds, and a creatine site, where Cr or CrP is bound. In such a mechanism, ATP and ADP compete for binding at their unique site, while Cr and CrP compete at the specific Cr-, CrP-binding site. Note that no modified enzyme form (E ), such as an E-PO4 intermediate, appears here. The reaction is characterized by rapid and reversible binary ES complex formation, followed by addition of the remaining substrate, and the rate-determining reaction taking place within the ternary complex. 

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