Yeast hexokinase substrate specificity

Figure 2. Hypothetical scheme for the selectivity-conferring interactions (indicated as wavy lines) of hexokinase with keto- and ald-hexoses. This model accounts for all known specificity and selectivity of yeast hexokinase toward hexose substrates and pentose ligands.

The substrate specificities of both mammalian and yeast hexo-kinases have been extensively studied (76,77). Nevertheless, work in this area continues both in the search for isoenzyme specific inhibitors and in increasingly detailed investigations of the catalytic mechanism. Recently potential transition state analogs PI-(adenosine-5 )-P3-glucose-6 triphosphate (Ap -glucose) and P1-(adenosine-5 )-P4-glucose-6 triphosphate (Ap.-giucose) were tested as inhibitors of four hexokinase isoenzymes. However, they were found to exhibit less affinity for the enzyme than either of the natural substrates alone (78). 

The use of X-ray techniques to elucidate the three-dimensional structure of enzymes shows that many of them possess a characteristic concave cleft at the active site. Concavities of this type have been observed, for example, in the case of lysozyme [8, 9] trypsin [10], yeast hexokinase [11], liver alcohol dehydrogenase [12] and citrate synthase [13]. It is thus reasonable to assume that the interaction between an enzyme and its substrate, inhibitor or cofactor usually occurs not in bulk water but rather in a shielded proteic cleft whose specific microenvironment is induced by the amino acid residues forming the cleft. Hydrophobicity, electrostatics, solvation and a relatively low dielectric constant prevailing within the cleft no doubt play a decisive role in determining the nature and rate of the reaction catalyzed by the enzyme. 

Symbol for the temperature coefficient, a quotient equal to Vt+wIvt, where Vr+io and Vj are the rates of a process (e.g., an enzyme-catalyzed reaction) at two temperatures differing by 10°C. This parameter is usually evaluated at saturating concentrations of substrate(s), so that temperature-dependent changes in Michaelis constant(s) are inconsequential. The <2io value is a characteristic property of a particular enzyme from a specific organism and cell type. For example, one cannot use the Qio value for one hexokinase from yeast to infer the temperature dependence of another hexokinase, say from rat brain. Likewise, the Qio value need not remain the same for a mutant form and a wild-type enzyme. 

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