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E Sandmeier

Publications and source records attributed to E Sandmeier.

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Conformational changes in aspartate aminotransferase. Effect of active site ligands on peptide hydrogen-deuterium exchange.

The conformational responses of aspartate aminotransferase (cytosolic isoenzyme from pig) to the binding of the coenzyme and competitive inhibitors and to the bond rearrangement steps during the transamination reaction were probed by the method of peptide hydrogen deuterium exchange. Binding of the coenzyme to the apoenzyme results in a marked retardation of hydrogen exchange; binding of the competitive inhibitor maleate to the pyridoxal enzyme induces a retardation of exchange somewhat exceeding that observed in the presence of the transaminating substrate pair glutamate and 2-oxoglutarate (Pfister, K., Kägi, J.H.R., and Christen, P. (1978) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 75, 145-148). On formation of the complex of apoenzyme with N-(5'-phosphopyridoxyl)-L-glutamate or-L-aspartate, analogs of the covalent coenzyme substrate intermediates, a similar exchange retardation occurs. The extent of the exchange retardation in these different functional states of the enzyme correlates with previous results of differential chemical and proteolytic modifications. Apparently, the diverse methods register shifts in one and the same conformational equilibrium. Moreover, the conditions under which peptide hydrogen exchange indicates a pronounced tightening of the protein matrix correspond with those inducing crystallization of the enzyme in the "closed" form. Thus, the transition between the "open" and "closed" form of the enzyme, i.e. the bulk movement of the small domain, as observed and defined by x-ray crystallography (Kirsch, J. F., Eichele, G., Ford, G. C., Vincent, M. G., Jansonius, J. N., Gehring, H., and Christen, P. (1984) J. Mol. Biol. 174, 497-525) is the major structural correlate of the conformational changes undergone by the enzyme in solution.

Animals↗

Chemical modification of a functional arginyl residue (Arg 292) of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase. Identification as the binding site for the distal carboxylate group of the substrate.

Mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase is inactivated by dicarbonyl reagents selectively modifying arginyl residues. Treatment with phenylglyoxal inactivates the enzyme with concomitant modification of 2.7 mol of arginyl residues/mol of subunit. If the reaction is performed in the presence of the transaminating substrate pair aspartate/oxalacetate, only 1.3 mol of arginyl residues/mol of subunit are labeled and the enzymic activity remains at 75% of the original value. One particular residue, identified by peptide analysis as Arg 292, is completely protected against modification in the presence of the substrate pair, indicating a role of its guanidinium group in substrate binding. On the basis of x-ray crystallographic studies of the complex of apoenzyme with N-(5'-phosphopyridoxyl)-aspartate (minus pyridoxal form of the enzyme), Arg 292 has been proposed as the binding site of the distal carboxylate group (Ford, G. C., Eichele, G., and Jansonius, J. N. (1980) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 77, 2559-2563). The enzyme with blocked Arg 292 is not completely inactive, and its molecular activity toward dicarboxylic substrates is of the same order of magnitude as that of the native enzyme toward alanine, which is 10(5) times lower than that toward dicarboxylic substrates. The activity toward alanine is unchanged but the rate-enhancing effect of formate on the transamination of alanine is impaired. Formate is assumed to occupy the binding site of the distal carboxylate group (Morino, Y., Osman, A. M., and Okamoto, M. (1974) J. Biol. Chem. 249, 6684-6692). Apparently, the interaction of the distal carboxylate group of the substrate with Arg 292 underlies not only the binding specificity but also the kinetic specificity of aspartate aminotransferase for dicarboxylic substrates.

Aldehydes↗

Mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase 27/32-410. Partially active enzyme derivative produced by limited proteolytic cleavage of native enzyme.

Native mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase (AATase) is cleaved selectively by trypsin at the peptide bonds after Arg 26 or after Lys 31 yielding two shortened enzyme derivatives, AATase 27-410, and AATase 32-410. Recent x-ray crystallographic determination of the spatial structure of AATase has shown that the NH2-terminal segments of the two polypeptide chains of this dimeric enzyme pass in front of the active site clefts and form two separate junctions with the neighboring subunit which are not contiguous with the main subunit interface (Eichele, G., Ford, G. C., Glor, M., Jansonius, J. N., Mavrides, C., and Christen, P. (1979) J. Mol. Biol. 133, 161-180). The peptide bonds cleaved by trypsin are situated in the following stretch of the polypeptide chain which runs in exposed position on the surface of the subunit. The split-off peptide is lost during gel filtration. The molecular activity of AATase 27/32-410 (a mixture of about equal amounts of the two not readily separable derivatives) is about 3% of that of the native enzyme. In contrast, the K'm values for aspartate and 2-oxoglutarate are unchanged, indicating an unaltered geometry of the substrate binding site. A substantially diminished syncatalytic response of the reactivity of Cys 166 toward 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoate) suggests that the decrease in catalytic activity is due to an interference with the syncatalytic conformational dynamics observed previously in AATase (Gehring, H., and Christen, P. (1978) J. Biol. Chem. 253, 3158-3163). Consonant with a role of the NH2-terminal segment in propagating the syncatalytic conformational rearrangements the rate of the tryptic cleavage is retarded 4-fold in the presence of the transaminating substrate pair aspartate and oxalacetate.

Amino Acids↗