Homotropic allosteric effect

Homotropic allosteric effect appears in the system with identical ligands, and heterotropic allosteric effect is manifested for interaction between different ligands. 

It was pointed out in Section 6.8 that the term allosteric as coined by MCJ and MWC has been used with three different meanings. In Chapter 6 we discussed the allosteric effect in hemoglobin (Hb). There, the two allosteric sites were identical this has been referred to as the homotropic effect. When the two sites bind different ligands, the heterotropic effect, the induced fit by one ligand can either enhance or diminish the binding affinity of the second ligand (see the example in Section 4.5). 

According to the concerted model, an allosteric activator shifts the conformational equilibrium of all subunits toward the R state, whereas an allosteric inhibitor shifts it toward the T state. Thus, ATP (an allosteric activator) shifted the equilibrium to the R form, resulting in an absorption change similar to that obtained when substrate is bound. CTP had a different effect. Hence, this allosteric inhibitor shifted the equilibrium to theT form. Thus, the concerted model accounts for the ATP-induced and CTP-induced (heterotropic), as well as for the substrate-induced (homotropic), allosteric interactions of ATGase. 

Identifying the region of the molecule involved in the direct transmission of allosteric effects is clearly important for understanding how allosteric transitions might be manipulated for therapeutic purposes, particularly if one wished to block an allosteric transition. Understanding the structure-function relationships of the ligands binding to their various sites in an allosteric protein is also critically important. For a homotropic interaction... 

Outline the effects of heterotropic and homotropic allosteric interactions on the equilibrium between the T and R forms of ATCase. 

Homotropic effect refers to allosteric effects produced by enzyme s own substrate and heterotropic effects are due to metabohtes that are not stmcturaUy related to enzyme s substrates. Positive effects are related to enzyme activation and negative effects to enzyme inhibition. Thus, fmctose-diphosphate is a positive allosteric effector of pymvate kinase. 

Allosteric Effect The binding of a guest at one binding site that is influenced by the binding of a second guest, either the same species (homotropic effect) or a different kind of guest (heterotropic effect), bound elsewhere within the host. 

In the Monod-Wyman-Changeux model for allosteric regulation, what values of L and relative affinities of R and T for A will lead activator A to exhibit positive homotropic effects (That is, under what conditions will the binding of A enhance further A-binding, in the same manner that S-binding shows positive coop-... 

The separation between allosteric effectors and cooperativity lies in the molecule doing the affecting. If the effector molecule acts at another site and the effector is not the substrate, the effect is deemed allosteric and heterotropic. If the effector molecule is the substrate itself, the effect is called cooperative and/or homotropic. 

FIGURE 6-29 Substrate-activity curves for representative allosteric enzymes. Three examples of complex responses of allosteric enzymes to their modulators, (a) The sigmoid curve of a homotropic enzyme, in which the substrate also serves as a positive (stimulatory) modulator, or activator. Note the resemblance to the oxygen-saturation curve of hemoglobin (see Fig. 5-12). (b) The effects of a positive modulator (+) and a negative modulator (—) on an allosteric enzyme in which K0 5 is altered without a change in Zmax. The central curve shows the substrate-activity relationship without a modulator, (c) A less common type of modulation, in which Vmax is altered and /C0.sis nearly constant. 

Homotropic effectors When the substrate itself serves as an effector, the effect is said to be homotropic. Most often, an allosteric substrate functions as a positive effector. In such a case, the presence of a substrate molecule at one site on the enzyme enhances the catalytic properties of the other substrate... 

Relationship between the initial velocity (v) and the substrate concentration [S] for an allosteric enzyme that shows a homotropic effect. The substrate functions as a positive modulator. The profile is sigmoidal, and during the steep part of the profile, small changes in [S] can cause large changes in v. Ko.i represents the substrate concentration corresponding to half-maximal velocity. 

The allosteric kinetic effects of ATCase are shown in Figure 7-6. The interaction of substrates with the enzyme is cooperative (an example of homotropic cooperativity), as indicated by the sigmoidal shapes of the v versus [S] plots, CTP being an inhibitor and ATP an activator. These modulators compete for the same regulatory site and modulate the affinity of the enzyme for its... 

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