Comparative studies on soluble and immobilized rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase

Dynamics of muscle glycogenolysis modeled with pH time course computation and pH-dependent reaction equilibria and enzyme kinetics

Cellular metabolites are moieties defined by their specific binding constants to H+, Mg2+, and K+ or anions without ligands. As a consequence, every biochemical reaction in the cytoplasm has an associated proton stoichiometry that is generally noninteger- and pH-dependent. Therefore, with metabolic flux, pH is altered in a medium with finite buffer capacity. Apparent equilibrium constants and maximum enzyme velocities, which are functions of pH, are also altered. We augmented an earlier mathematical model of skeletal muscle glycogenolysis with pH-dependent enzyme kinetics and reaction equilibria to compute the time course of pH changes. Analysis shows that kinetics and final equilibrium states of the closed system are highly constrained by the pH-dependent parameters. This kinetic model of glycogenolysis, coupled to creatine kinase and adenylate kinase, simulated published experiments made with a cell-free enzyme mixture to reconstitute the network and to synthesize PCr and lactate in vitro. Using the enzyme kinetic and thermodynamic data in the literature, the simulations required minimal adjustments of parameters to describe the data. These results show that incorporation of appropriate physical chemistry of the reactions with accurate kinetic modeling gives a reasonable simulation of experimental data and is necessary for a physically correct representation of the metabolic network. The approach is general for modeling metabolic networks beyond the specific pathway and conditions presented here.

Immobilized triosephosphate isomerases. A comparative study

Pig muscle triosephosphate isomerase was covalently attached to polyacrylamide and silica-based supports possessing carboxylic or aldehyde functional groups or activated with p-benzoquinone. A silica-based support activated with p-benzoquinone proved to be the most advantageous. There were no profound alterations in the catalytic properties as a result of the immobilization. The immobilization enhanced the resistance against urea and heat treatment. At the start of the treatments, the enzyme was activated. The extent of activation depended on the pH, and on the buffer and salt concentrations. Increase of the ionic strength decreased or eliminated the activation. The phosphate ion had a specific effect on the thermal inactivation.

Effects of carbodiimide structure on the immobilization of enzymes

A series of water-soluble disubstituted carbodiimides of different structure was tested for enzyme immobilization. In the experiments, a polyacrylamide-type bead polymer possessing carboxylic functional groups was used as support. The enzymes immobilized were aminoacylase (N-acylamino acid amidohydrolase; EC 3.5.1.14), arginase (L-arginine amidinohydrolase; EC 3.5.3.1), cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (alpha-1,4-glucan 4-glycosyltransferase, cyclizing; EC 3.2.1.19), glucoamylase (1,4-alpha-D-glucan glycohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.3), and carboxypeptidase B (peptidyl-L-lysine [L-arginine] hydrolase; EC 3.4.17.2). It was found that the degree of immobilization strongly depended on the structure of carbodiimide used.

Preparation, characterization, and application of a novel immobilized carboxypeptidase B

Pig pancreas carboxypeptidase B has been immobilized by covalent attachment to a polyacrylamide-type bead support possessing carboxylic functional groups activated by water-soluble carbodiimide. The optimum conditions of immobilization were determined. The activation of the support and the coupling reaction were performed in 0.1 M sodium citrate/sodium phosphate buffer (pH 4.5) using a support-carbodiimide-enzyme weight ratio 4:8:1 at 0-4 degrees C. Under such conditions, the highest activity achieved was 6700 U/g solid. The catalytic properties and stability of immobilized carboxypeptidase B were studied and compared with the corresponding properties of the soluble enzyme. The specific activity of the immobilized enzyme calculated on bound protein basis was about 70% of that of soluble enzyme. The optimum pH for the catalytic activity of the immobilized carboxypeptidase B was practically identical with that of soluble enzyme (pH 7.6-7.7). The apparent optimum temperature of the immobilized carboxypeptidase B was about 7 degrees C higher than that of the soluble enzyme. With hippuryl-L-arginine as substrate, Kmapp value of the immobilized enzyme was tenfold higher than the Km value of the soluble enzyme. The conformational stability of the enzyme was markedly enhanced by the strongly hydrophylic microenvironment in a wide temperature and pH range. The immobilized carboxypeptidase B was used for stepwise digestion of cytochrome C.