Tryptophan, exchange reactions

Irradiation of tryptophan and related compounds is well known to result in hydrogen exchange at the 4-position of the indole nucleus and the side chain amino group is implicated In the process. This exchange reaction has now... 

The pH dependence of tryptophan polarization is not easily interpretable. The increase between pH 4 and 5 could be related to the pK of 4.3 of the tryptophyl cation radical (22). At low pH t e radical would not deprotonate and a fast exchange reaction with the parent molecule could lead to partial cancellation of polarization. Again, this cancellation is less effective in the case of proteins and... 

The ATP-PP exchange reaction is inhibited by high concentrations of NH2OH and of tryptophan. 

A transfer of the adenylyl group i.e., a P—0 split has not been obtained so far (or maybe has not been looked for) with the adenylates in the absence of enzyme. In the presence of the activating enzymes, on the other hand, the adenylyl group is veiy readily transferred onto pyrophosphate to give ATP 116, 169, 164, 177). This reaction, however, is not specific, since tryptophan activating enzyme, for example, can synthetize ATP from all the amino acid adenylates tested 116) as well as from the adenylate of D-tiyptophan 169). The same transfer of the AMP moiety onto PP does, of course, also occur in the amino acid catalyzed ATP-PP exchange reaction. 

The analysis of amino acids involves chromatographic issues similar to those encountered in analysis of simple amines. Underivatized amino acids have, with a few exceptions, weak UV absorbance and a strong tendency to interact with stationary phases in undesirable ways. Underivatized amino acids are normally separated with ion exchange chromatography, then visualized post-column by reaction with ninhydrin, o-phthaladehyde (OPA), or other agents. Underivatized tryptophan and the metabolites kynurenine, 3-hydroxykynurenine, kynurenic acid, and 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid, were separated on a Partisphere 5-p ODS column with fluorescent detection.121... 

For two transaminases the remaining unknown stereochemical parameter was determined by demonstrating an internal transfer of tritium (dialkyl amino acid transaminase) [28] or deuterium (pyridoxamine-pyruvate transaminase) [27] from the a-position of the substrate L-alanine to C-4 of the cofactor. Internal hydrogen transfer from the a-position of the substrate amino acid to C-4 of PLP has also been demonstrated for two of the abortive transamination reactions, those catalyzed by tryptophan synthase fi2 protein [32] and by aspartate-/8-decarboxylase [31]. In addition, the same phenomenon must occur in alanine transaminase, as deduced from the observation that the enzyme catalyzes exchange of the /8-hydrogens of... 

Site-specific sulfenylation of tryptophan residues in egg-white lysozyme has been attained by either limiting the amount of reagent, or modifying the reaction conditions. Thus, Trp-108 is the major site of modification upon addition of one equivalent of 2-thio-(2-nitro-4-carboxyphenyljsulfenyl chloride to lysozyme in 25% acetic acid (Veronese et al. 1972). Specific modification of Trp-62 was attained in approximately 8 hr by the addition of 5 consecutive portions of solid NPS-Cl (10 /imole for each ml of reaction mixture) to a solution of lysozyme (0.5 /imole/ml) in 0.1 M sodium acetate at pH 3.5 (Shechter et al. 1972). In both cases, the protein derivative was separated from other products, and unreacted enzyme by ion-exchange chromatography. 

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