Biomedical subjects

L Polgár

Publications and source records attributed to L Polgár.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1979

Mechanism-controlled stereospecificity. Acylation of subtilisin with enantiomeric alkyl and nitrophenyl ester substrates.

The activation parameters of acylation of subtilisin with alkyl and p-nitrophenyl esters of N-acylamino acid enantiomers were determined. It was found that (1) the activation entropy is much higher with the nitrophenyl esters than with the corresponding methyl esters, (2) the difference in rate constants between enantiomers is 10(4)--10(5) with methyl esters whereas it is only of the order of 10 with nitrophenyl esters. The results indicate that the catalytic mechanism is simpler for nitrophenyl esters than for alkyl esters. The simple mechanism requires only general base catalysis, and thus permits more freedom of motion in the transition state, whereas the complex mechanism involves both general base and general acid catalysis. Furthermore, the strikingly low enantiomeric specificity with nitrophenyl esters indicates that not only binding but also the catalytic mechanism is an important factor in determining the stereospecificity of an enzyme. The activation parameters for enantiomeric nitrophenyl ester reactions suggest that structurally related substrates can be transformed by the enzyme in different conformations which may be energetically similar or not. The energetically different conformations may account for the activation enthalpy-entropy compensation.

Acylation↗

PubMed1979

Deuterium isotope effects on papain acylation. Evidence for lack of general base catalysis and for enzyme--leaving-group interaction.

The experimental data presented in this paper comprise kinetic deuterium isotope effects on acylation of papain with various substrates when conducted in H2O and 2H2O. With alkyl esters of N-acylamino acids there is no or very little isotope effect, whereas with N-acylamino acid amides the ratio kappa H2O/kappa 2H2O is less than 1, i.e. there is an inverse isotope effect. Similarly, alkylation of papain with methyl bromoacetate exhibits no kinetic isotope effect, whereas for the analogous alkylation with bromoacetamide an inverse isotope effect is observed. It is concluded that (a) general base catalysis does not occur in the acylation of papain and (b) kinetic deuterium isotope effects can be affected substantially by interaction between the substrate leaving group and the enzyme, which has not been considered in previous mechanistic investigations.

Acylation↗

PubMed1978

Evidence for multiple reactive forms of papain.

The pH-dependence of the second-order rate constants of acylation and alkylation reactions of the -SH group of papain were determined by using neutral and charged reactants under identical conditions. From these pH rate profiles, in contrast to previous claims, different pKa values were obtained with different groups of reactants. In the case of charged reactants, like chloroacetate (pKa = 3.6) and arginine derivatives (pKa = 4.3), the pKa differences can be attributed to electrostatic effects. However, the fact that a pKa of 3.25 was found with methyl and ethyl bromoacetate, and a pKa of 4.0 was obtained with bromoacetamide and a number of neutral substrates, is inconsistent with the theories put forth hitherto for the meaning of such pKa values, because they all consider only one reactive enzyme form. The different pKa values obtained here with neutral reactants are explained in terms of various reactive papain forms. The perturbation of pKa by electrostatic effects was examined by reacting simple thiol compounds containing different charges, like 2-mercaptoacetate, 2-mercaptoethylamine, 2-mercaptoethanol and glutathione, with the neutral chloroacetamide and with the negatively charged chloroacetate. Differences in pKa can be interpreted in terms of intramolecular and intermolecular electrostatic interactions.

Acylation↗

PubMed1977

On the enhanced catalytic activity of papain towards amide substrates.

According to the scanty literature data papain (EC. 3.4.4.10) reacts with ester and corresponding amide substrates at a similar rate (Glazer, Smith, 1971) despite a considerable difference in the reactivities of the ester and amide bonds. An explanation for the similar rates may be an increased acylation rate of amides relative to that of esters owing to hydrogen bond formation between the amide group of an amide substrate and Asp-158 carbonyl oxygen as it is apparent from the three-dimensional structure of papain. This possibility was confirmed by comparing the second-order rate constants of acylation of papain with the ester and amide derivatives of N-benzoylglycine and O-benzoylglycolic acid. The rate enhancement with amides is not an equally important factor with all substrates of papain: the amides of N-acyl-L-phenylalanylglycine are hydrolyzed at a considerably lower rate than the corresponding esters. It is concluded from the above data that the binding mode is somewhat different with various substrates.

Amides↗

PubMed1977

Hydrolysis of alkyl ester and amide substrates by papain.

The ratio of the rate constants of acylation of papain with some amino acid ester and amide substrates is unexpectedly low. The contribution to this low ratio by the N-acyl group and the amino acid side chain was studied by measuring the rate constants of substrates containing various acyl groups (benzoyl and benzyloxycarbonyl) and various side chains (glycine, alanine, norleucine, citrulline and arginine). The benzoyl esters were found to be less reactive than the corresponding benzyloxycarbonyl esters, whereas the benzoyl and corresponding benzyloxycarbonyl amides reacted with papain at similar rates. These findings can be explained by the dominance of hydrogen bond formation between the enzyme and amide substrates, which comprensates for the less favourable binding of the benzoyl group. It is also apparent from the similar acylation rate constants for norleucine, citrulline and arginine derivatives that the guanidyl group only slightly affects the reaction of arginine derivatives with papain.

Acylation↗

PubMed1976

Effect of the immediate environment on the reactivity of the essential -SH group of papain.

The effect of the microenvironment on the reactivity of the essential -- SH group of papain was studied by alkylation with methyl iodide and with the more polar iodoacetamide. Rate and activation parameters for these reactions were determined with two forms of the -- SH group: the free mercaptide ion at pH 10.0, and the mercaptide-imidazolium ion-pair at pH 5.5. The ion-pair of papain reacts with methyl iodide at a rate 1470 times less than that of thiolsubtilisin. This surprising difference between the reactivities of the two enzymes suggests that in contrast to thiolsubtilisin, where a non-polar environment enhances the rate, in the case of papain a more polar environment somewhat inhibits the reaction with the non-polar methyl iodide. The positive activation entropy for the papain reaction may indicate an 'ordered' structure of bound water around the sulfur atom. The high rate and the low activation entropy (organized transition state) of the reaction of papain with iodoacetamide can be explained in terms of hydrogen-bond formation between the enzyme and the amide group of the alkylating agent.

Alkylation↗

PubMed1975

Ion-pair formation as a source of enhanced reactivity of the essential thiol group of D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase.

The reactivity and the mode of activation of the essential--SH group (Cys-149) of D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase have been studied by means of a spectrophotometric method [Polgár, L., FEBS Lett. 38, 187-190 (1974)], capable of detecting the dissociated form of the thiol group in proteins. Alkylations of Cys-149 of NAD-free D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase with iodoacetamide and iodoacetate were investigated. The corrected absorbance change on alkylation at 250 nm (which is a direct parameter of the dissociation of the thiol group) and the alkylation rate were determined as a function of pH. The pH profiles of both dissociation and alkylation rate of Cys-149 conform to doubly sigmoid curves. All these curves implicate two ionizing groups (pK1 equals 5.5, pK2 equals 8.2). It is concluded that there are two reactive forms of the--SH group in the apoenzyme between pH 5 and 10. One reactive form corresponds to the free mercaptide ion. The other can be identified with an ion-pair composed of a mercaptide ion and some base, possibly the imidazolium group of His-176. The ion-pair has lower molar absorption coefficient and nucleophilicity than the free mercaptide ion. The two reactive forms are transformed into each other with pK2 equals 8.2. The ion-pair decomposes to a nondissociated thiol group and a protonated base with pK1 equals 5.5. In the presence of NAD, only the pH-rate profile of alkylation of D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was measured (at 370 nm). Using iodoacetamide as alkylating agent we also obtained a doubly sigmoid curve. A slight downward shift on pK1 and an upward shift in pK2 indicate that the ion-pair exists in a somewhat wider pH-range in the enzyme-coenzyme complex. An increase in the ionic strength of the reaction mixture from 0.09 to 0.45 M does not abolish the doubly sigmoid character of the curves determined either in the presence or in the absence of NAD.

Alkylation↗