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E Van Schaftingen

Publications and source records attributed to E Van Schaftingen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Binding of sorbitol 6-phosphate and of fructose 1-phosphate to the regulatory protein of liver glucokinase.

Using a binding assay in which the ligand-protein complex is separated from free ligand by precipitation with poly(ethylene glycol) 6000, we found that the regulatory protein of rat liver glucokinase bound close to 1 mol of radiolabelled sorbitol 6-phosphate, a negative effector, or of fructose 1-phosphate, a positive effector, per mol of regulatory protein. Scatchard plots were linear, the dissociation constant being 0.3 microM for both phosphate esters. Sorbitol 6-phosphate and fructose 1-phosphate competed with each other for the binding. Competition was also observed with psicose 1-phosphate, ribitol 5-phosphate, arabitol 5-phosphate and 3-phosphoglycerate, all of which are known to affect the inhibition exerted by the regulatory protein. At a concentration of 10%, poly(ethylene glycol) 6000 decreased the concentration of regulatory protein causing 50% inhibition to a larger extent in the absence (12-fold) than in the presence (3-fold) of a saturating concentration of fructose 6-phosphate, another negative effector. Furthermore, it increased by about 3-fold the apparent affinity for inhibitory phosphate esters, indicating that it induced conformational changes of the regulatory protein.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Mechanism of the stimulatory effect of a potassium-rich medium on the phosphorylation of glucose in isolated rat hepatocytes.

We have investigated the mechanism by which the replacement of a Na(+)-rich medium by a K(+)-rich medium causes an increase in the apparent affinity of glucokinase (hexokinase IV or D) for glucose in isolated hepatocytes [Bontemps, F., Hue, L. & Hers, H. G. (1978) Biochem. J. 174, 603-611]. The stimulatory effect of a K(+)-rich medium on the rate of glucose phosphorylation, as assessed by the release of tritium from [2-3H]glucose, was only partially additive with the effect of fructose, suggesting that it was also due to a decrease in the inhibition exerted on glucokinase by its regulatory protein. Measurements of metabolites indicated that the effect of the K(+)-rich medium was neither due to the formation of fructose 1-phosphate, nor to changes in the concentrations of fructose 6-phosphate or Pi, two other effectors of the regulatory protein. Replacement of Na+ by K+ in the medium resulted in a time-dependent and dose-dependent increase in cell volume that paralleled the changes in the rate of detritiation observed at 5 mM glucose. The water and chloride contents, estimated using radiolabelled compounds, were threefold and tenfold higher, respectively, in K+ cells than in Na+ cells, and the intracellular Cl- concentration about threefold higher (94 versus 29 meq/l). The effects of the K(+)-rich medium on cell volume, Cl- concentration and rate of detritiation were greatly reduced by including 80 mM trehalose or sucrose in the medium at the start of the incubation. Addition of trehalose to cells incubated for 45-50 min in the K(+)-rich medium caused an immediate decrease in cell volume whereas the rate of detritiation and the Cl- concentration underwent a transient increase followed by a decrease. Replacement of KCl by KBr, potassium acetate or potassium trichloroacetate in the K(+)-rich medium resulted in different relationships between cell volume and the rate of detritiation, in agreement with the differential effect of these salts on the activity of purified glucokinase assayed in the presence of regulatory protein. From these results we conclude that the increase in the activity of glucokinase induced by a KCl-rich medium is at least partly due to an increase in the concentration of Cl-, which relieves the inhibition exerted by the regulatory protein on purified glucokinase.

Acetates↗
PubMed1992

Pyruvate kinase from Trichomonas vaginalis, an allosteric enzyme stimulated by ribose 5-phosphate and glycerate 3-phosphate.

Trichomonas vaginalis pyruvate kinase was purified over 1750 fold to a specific activity greater than 100 mumol min-1 (mg protein)-1. The enzyme is a tetramer of M(r) 266,000, consisting of subunits of M(r) 53,000 and 56,000 in equivalent amounts. Its activity was dependent on the presence of magnesium but was not stimulated by potassium or ammonium. The enzyme exhibited positive cooperativity towards phosphoenolpyruvate and was inhibited by inorganic phosphate, which increased the sigmoidicity of the saturation curve for phosphoenolpyruvate without affecting maximal activity. It was heterotropically stimulated by ribose 5-phosphate and glycerate 3-phosphate, not previously known to act on eukaryotic pyruvate kinases, but was unaffected by known effectors of most pyruvate kinases, including fructose 1,6-bisphosphate and fructose 2,6-bisphosphate.

Allosteric Regulation↗
PubMed1991

Competitive inhibition of liver glucokinase by its regulatory protein.

The regulatory protein of rat liver glucokinase (hexokinase IV or D) behaved as a fully competitive inhibitor of this enzyme when glucose was the variable substrate, i.e. it increased the half-saturating concentration of glucose as a linear function of its concentration without affecting V (velocity at infinite concentration of substrate). The inhibition by the regulatory protein and that by palmitoyl-CoA were synergistic with that by N-acetyl-glucosamine, indicating that the two former inhibitors bind to a site distinct from the catalytic site. In contrast, the effects of the regulatory protein and palmitoyl-CoA were competitive with each other, indicating that these two inhibitors bind to the same site. The regulatory protein exerted a non-competitive inhibition with respect to Mg-ATP at concentrations of this nucleotide less than 0.5 mM. At higher concentrations, the latter antagonized the inhibition by the regulatory protein partly by decreasing the apparent affinity for fructose 6-phosphate. The following anions inhibited glucokinase non-competitively with respect to glucose: Pi, sulfate, I-, Br-, No3-, Cl-, F- and acetate. Pi and sulfate, at concentrations in the millimolar range, decreased the inhibition by the regulatory protein by competing with fructose 6-phosphate. Monovalent anions also antagonized the inhibition by the regulatory protein with the following order of potency: I- greater than Br- greater than NO3- greater than Cl- greater than F- greater than acetate and their effect was non-competitive with respect to fructose 6-phosphate. Glucokinase from Buffo marinus and pig liver were, like the rat liver enzyme, inhibited by the regulatory protein, as well as by palmitoyl-CoA at micromolar concentrations. In contrast, neither compound inhibited hexokinases from rat brain, beef heart or yeast, or the low-Km specific glucokinase from Bacillus stearothermophilus.

Acetates↗
PubMed1991

Effectors of the regulatory protein acting on liver glucokinase: a kinetic investigation.

In the absence of fructose 6-phosphate, the regulatory protein of rat liver glucokinase (hexokinase IV or D) inhibited this enzyme, though with a much (15-fold) lower potency than in the presence of a saturating concentration of fructose 6-phosphate. Evidence is provided that this inhibition is not due to contaminating fructose 6-phosphate. In the presence of regulatory protein, sorbitol 6-phosphate, a potent analog of fructose 6-phosphate, exerted a hyperbolic, partial inhibition on glucokinase, the degree of which increased with the concentration of regulatory protein. Plots of the reciprocal of the difference between the rates in the absence and in the presence of sorbitol 6-phosphate versus 1/[sorbitol 6-phosphate] at various concentrations of regulatory protein were linear, and demonstrated that the apparent affinity for sorbitol 6-phosphate increased with the concentration of regulatory protein. Plots of the reciprocal of the difference between 1/v in the presence and in the absence of sorbitol 6-phosphate versus 1/[sorbitol 6-phosphate] were also linear and crossed the axis at a value independent of the concentration of regulatory protein. Fructose 1-phosphate released the inhibition exerted by the regulatory protein in a hyperbolic fashion. The concentration of this effector required for a half-maximal effect increased linearly with the concentrations of sorbitol 6-phosphate and of regulatory protein. These results are consistent with a model in which the regulatory protein exists under two conformations, one form which binds inhibitors and glucokinase, and the other which binds activators, although not glucokinase. Sorbitol 6-phosphate, 2-deoxysorbitol 6-phosphate and mannitol 1-phosphate, all analogs of the open-chain configuration of fructose 6-phosphate, inhibited glucokinase in the presence of regulatory protein at lower concentrations than fructose 6-phosphate, whereas fixed analogs of the furanose form of fructose 6-phosphate were inactive or behaved as activators. This indicated that fructose 6-phosphate in its open-chain configuration is recognized by the regulatory protein. A series of compounds exerted an activating effect. These included, in order of decreasing potency: fructose 1-phosphate, psicose 1-phosphate, ribitol 5-phosphate, analogs of fructose 1-phosphate and of ribitol 5-phosphate and, at much higher concentrations, inorganic phosphate.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Fructose administration stimulates glucose phosphorylation in the livers of anesthetized rats.

A method allowing one to measure the rate of glucose phosphorylation in the livers of anesthetized rats is described. Upon injection of [2-3H]glucose into the portal vein, about 90% of the radioactivity remained in the liver for approximately 30 s. The proportion of radioactivity accounted for by tritiated water increased linearly at a rate of about 5%/min in control animals. Fructose injected into the penile vein stimulated this rate up to 2.2- and 2.7-fold in fed and overnight starved rats respectively, a maximal effect being observed at a dose of 50 mg/kg under both conditions. Fructose was also active when administered by intragastric infusion. The ketose caused increases in the concentration of fructose 1-phosphate, which reached values known to relieve the inhibition exerted on glucokinase by its regulatory protein.

Anesthesia↗
PubMed1990

Fructose 1-phosphate and the regulation of glucokinase activity in isolated hepatocytes.

Fructose 1-phosphate kinase was partially purified from Clostridium difficile and used to develop specific assays of fructose 1-phosphate and fructose. The concentration of fructose 1-phosphate was below the detection limit of the assay (25 pmol/mg protein) in hepatocytes incubated in the presence of glucose as sole carbohydrate. Addition of fructose (0.05-1 mM) caused a concentration-dependent and transient increase in the fructose 1-phosphate content. Glucagon (1 microM) and ethanol (10 mM) caused a severalfold decrease in the concentration of fructose 1-phosphate in cells incubated with fructose, whereas the addition of 0.1 microM vasopressin or 10 mM glycerone, or raising the concentration of glucose from 5 mM to 20 mM had the opposite effect. All these agents caused changes in the concentration of triose phosphates that almost paralleled those of the fructose 1-phosphate concentration. Sorbitol had a similar effect to fructose in causing the formation of fructose 1-phosphate. D-Glyceraldehyde was much less potent in this respect than the ketose and its effect disappeared earlier. The effect of D-glyceraldehyde was reinforced by an increase in the glucose concentration and decreased by glucagon. Both fructose and D-glyceraldehyde stimulated the phosphorylation of glucose as estimated by the release of 3H2O from [2-3H]glucose, but the triose was less potent in this respect than fructose and its effect disappeared earlier. Glucagon and ethanol antagonised the effect of low concentrations of fructose or D-glyceraldehyde on the detritiation of glucose. These results support the proposal that fructose 1-phosphate mediates the effects of fructose, D-glyceraldehyde and sorbitol by relieving the inhibition exerted on glucokinase by a regulatory protein.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

The mechanism by which rat liver glucokinase is inhibited by the regulatory protein.

The fructose-6-phosphate-sensitive and fructose-1-phosphate-sensitive protein that inhibits rat liver glucokinase [Van Schaftingen, E. (1989) Eur. J. Biochem. 179, 179-184] was purified close to homogeneity by a procedure involving poly(ethyleneglycol) precipitation, chromatography on anion-exchangers and hydroxylapatite, gel filtration and chromatography on Mono S, a cation exchanger. In the last chromatographic step, the regulatory protein coeluted with a 62 kDa peptide. From the elution volume of the gel-filtration column a molecular mass of 60 kDa was determined, allowing the conclusion that the regulator is a monomer. The decrease in the apparent affinity of glucokinase for glucose, which the regulator induced, disappeared upon separation of the two proteins. Furthermore, the regulator did not appear to catalyse the formation of a heat-stable or a trypsin-resistant inhibitor of glucokinase. Finally, the inhibition exerted by the regulatory protein reached a steady value 1-2 min after the addition of the regulator. These results indicate that the regulator does not act by causing a covalent modification of glucokinase nor by catalysing the formation of a low-molecular-mass inhibitor. Raising the concentration of glucokinase in the assay from 6 mU/ml to 120 mU/ml caused a 2.5-fold increase in the concentration of regulator required to half-maximally inhibit the enzyme. The apparent mass of glucokinase, as determined by centrifugation in isokinetic sucrose gradient, was 55 kDa, and this value was unaffected by the separate presence of fructose 6-phosphate or of the regulatory protein. However, the apparent mass of the enzyme increased to 105 kDa when glucokinase was centrifuged together with both fructose 6-phosphate and the regulatory protein, although not when fructose 1-phosphate was also present. Conversely, the presence of glucokinase increased the apparent molecular mass of the regulator in the presence of fructose 6-phosphate. From these results, it is concluded that the regulatory protein inhibits glucokinase by forming a complex with this enzyme in the presence of fructose 6-phosphate, and that fructose 1-phosphate antagonises this inhibition by preventing the formation of the complex.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Regulation of glucokinase by a fructose-1-phosphate-sensitive protein in pancreatic islets.

In the post-microsomal supernatant of pancreatic islets, prepared from fasted or fed rats, D-fructose 1-phosphate increased the activity of glucokinase by 20-30% as measured in the presence of D-glucose 6-phosphate and D-fructose 6-phosphate. Such an activation was less marked than that found in liver extracts. The islet cytosol was also found to inhibit purified liver glucokinase, and this effect was antagonized by D-fructose 1-phosphate. In the presence of hexose 6-phosphates, partially purified islet glucokinase was inhibited by the hepatic glucokinase regulatory protein in a D-fructose-1-phosphate-sensitive manner. In intact islets, D-glyceraldehyde stimulated the generation of 14C-labelled D-fructose 1-phosphate from D-[U-14C]glucose and increased the production of 3H2O from D-[5-3H]glucose. These findings suggest that the activity of glucokinase in islet cells may be regulated by a protein mediating the antagonistic effects of D-fructose 6-phosphate and D-fructose 1-phosphate in a manner qualitatively similar to that operating in hepatocytes, but with lower efficiency.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Coenzyme specificity of mammalian liver D-glycerate dehydrogenase.

D-Glycerate dehydrogenase (glyoxylate reductase) was partially purified from rat liver by anion- and cation-exchange chromatography. When assayed in the direction of D-glycerate or glycolate formation, the enzyme was inhibited by high (greater than or equal to 0.5 mM), unphysiological concentrations of hydroxypyruvate or glyoxylate much more potently in the presence of NADPH than in the presence of NADH. However, the dehydrogenase displayed a much greater affinity for NADPH (Km less than 1 microM) than for NADH (Km = 48-153 microM). Furthermore, NADP was over 1000-fold more potent than NAD in inhibiting the enzyme competitively with respect to NADH. NADP also inhibited the reaction competitively with respect to NADPH whereas NAD, at concentrations of up to 10 mM had no inhibitory effect. When measured by the formation of hydroxypyruvate from D-glycerate, the enzyme also displayed a much greater affinity for NADP than for NAD. These properties indicate that liver D-glycerate dehydrogenase functions physiologically as an NADPH-specific reductase. In agreement with this conclusion, the addition of hydroxypyruvate or glyoxylate to suspensions of rat hepatocytes stimulated the pentose-phosphate pathway. The coenzyme specificity of D-glycerate dehydrogenase is discussed in relation to the biochemical findings made in D-glyceric aciduria and in primary hyperoxaluria type II (L-glyceric aciduria).

Alcohol Oxidoreductases↗
PubMed1989

Presence of fructokinase in pancreatic islets.

Homogenates of rat pancreatic islets that had been heated for 5 min at 70 degrees C to inactive hexokinases, catalyzed the ATP-dependent phosphorylation of D-fructose. This reaction was dependent on the presence of K+ and was inhibited by D-tagatose although not by D-glucose or D-glucose 6-phosphate. The phosphorylation product was identified as fructose 1-phosphate through its conversion to a bisphosphate ester by Clostridium difficile fructose 1-phosphate kinase. These findings allowed the conclusion that fructokinase (ketohexokinase) was responsible for this process. Similar results were observed with tumoral insulin-producing cells (RINm5F line). Fructokinase may account for a large share of fructose phosphorylation in intact islets, particularly in the presence of D-glucose.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

D-glycerate kinase deficiency as a cause of D-glyceric aciduria.

D-Glycerate kinase was measured in human livers thanks to a new, sensitive radiochemical assay. The enzyme was extremely unstable in extracts prepared in water, but was partly stabilized in a homogenization mixture containing inorganic phosphate, D-glycerate and EGTA. When extracted in such a stabilizing mixture, glycerate kinase activity amounted to 0.86 +/- 0.21 U/g in control livers and to 0.03 U/g in the liver of a patient with D-glyceric aciduria. In contrast, D-glycerate dehydrogenase (glyoxylate reductase) and triokinase activities were not deficient in the liver of the same patient. It is concluded that D-glycerate kinase deficiency is a cause of D-glyceric aciduria.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1989

Stimulation of glucose phosphorylation by fructose in isolated rat hepatocytes.

The phosphorylation of glucose was measured by the formation of [3H]H2O from [2-3H]glucose in suspensions of freshly isolated rat hepatocytes. Fructose (0.2 mM) stimulated 2-4-fold the rate of phosphorylation of 5 mM glucose although not of 40 mM glucose, thus increasing the apparent affinity of the glucose phosphorylating system. A half-maximal stimulatory effect was observed at about 50 microM fructose. Stimulation was maximal 5 min after addition of the ketose and was stable for at least 40 min, during which period 60% of the fructose was consumed. The effect of fructose was reversible upon removal of the ketose. Sorbitol and tagatose were as potent as fructose in stimulating the phosphorylation of 5 mM glucose. D-Glyceraldehyde also had a stimulatory effect but at tenfold higher concentrations. In contrast, dihydroxyacetone had no significant effect and glycerol inhibited the detritiation of glucose. Oleate did not affect the phosphorylation of glucose, even in the presence of fructose, although it stimulated the formation of ketone bodies severalfold, indicating that it was converted to its acyl-CoA derivative. These results allow the conclusion that fructose stimulates glucokinase in the intact hepatocyte. They also suggest that this effect is mediated through the formation of fructose 1-phosphate, which presumably interacts with a competitive inhibitor of glucokinase other than long-chain acyl-CoAs.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

A protein from rat liver confers to glucokinase the property of being antagonistically regulated by fructose 6-phosphate and fructose 1-phosphate.

At a concentration of 1 mM, fructose 1-phosphate stimulated about twofold, and glucose 6-phosphate inhibited by about 30%, the phosphorylation of 5 mM glucose in high-speed supernatants prepared from rat liver or from isolated hepatocytes, but did not affect, or barely so, the activity of a partially purified preparation of glucokinase. Anion-exchange chromatography of liver extracts separated glucokinase from a fructose-6-phosphate-sensitive and fructose-1-phosphate-sensitive inhibitor of that enzyme. This inhibitor could be further purified by chromatography on phospho-Ultrogel. It was destroyed by trypsin and was heat-labile. It inhibited glucokinase competitively with respect to glucose and its inhibitory effect was greatly reinforced by fructose 6-phosphate although not by glucose 6-phosphate. Fructose 1-phosphate relieved the enzyme of the inhibitory effect of the regulator and antagonised the effect of fructose 6-phosphate in a competitive manner. It is concluded that the regulator plays a role in the physiological control of the activity of glucokinase, particularly with respect to the stimulatory effect of fructose in isolated hepatocytes (see preceding paper in this journal).

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Presence of a fructose-2,6-bisphosphate-insensitive pyrophosphate: fructose-6-phosphate phosphotransferase in the anaerobic protozoa Tritrichomonas foetus, Trichomonas vaginalis and Isotricha prostoma.

Extracts of the anaerobic protozoa Tritrichomonas foetus, Trichomonas vaginalis and Isotricha prostoma contained a high activity (0.5-1 mumol min-1 (mg protein)-1) of pyrophosphate:fructose-6-phosphate phosphotransferase (PPi-PFK), but no detectable ATP: fructose-6-phosphate phosphotransferase. PPi-PFK from I. prostoma was purified close to homogeneity by adsorption on phospho-Ultrogel and elution with fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, and subsequent anion-exchange chromatography. The enzyme had an Mr of 95,000 as determined by gel filtration and consisted of subunits of Mr 48,000. PPi-PFK from I. prostoma and from T. foetus displayed hyperbolic kinetics with respect to their substrates and were not affected by fructose-2,6-bisphosphate. In sharp contrast with what has been found in other eukaryotes, no evidence could be found for the presence of fructose-2,6-bisphosphate in the two trichomonads, in I. prostoma and in Entamoeba histolytica.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

A CCAAT DNA binding factor consisting of two different components that are both required for DNA binding.

A CCAAT-binding activity present in nuclear extracts of rat liver and NIH 3T3 fibroblasts was purified using, as assay, DNA binding to a segment of the mouse alpha 2(I) collagen promoter. The activity consists of two components, designated factors A and B, which are separated by ion exchange chromatography on either Mono Q or Mono S columns. Factor A is heat-sensitive, whereas factor B is heat-resistant. Both factors are required for DNA binding and both are present in the DNA protein complex. The A + B complex was extensively purified by heparin-agarose and sequence-specific affinity chromatography. The Mr of factor A is 39,000, whereas the Mr of factor B is 41,000 as determined by renaturation of a highly purified preparation after sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Competition experiments indicate that this CCAAT-binding complex has a DNA sequence specificity that is different from those of other CCAAT-binding proteins.

Animals↗