Catalytically active monomers of E. coli glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

Fermentative glycolysis with purified Escherichia coli enzymes for in vitro ATP production and evaluating an engineered enzyme

Each of the twelve enzymes for glycolytic fermentation, eleven from Escherichia coli and one from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, have been over-expressed in E. coli and purified with His-tags. Simple assays have been developed for each enzyme and they have been assembled for fermentation of glucose to ethanol. Phosphorus-31 NMR revealed that this in vitro reaction accumulates fructose 1,6-bisphosphate while recycling the cofactors NAD(+) and ATP. This reaction represents a defined ATP-regeneration system that can be tailored to suit in vitro biochemical reactions such as cell-free protein synthesis. The enzyme from S. cerevisiae, pyruvate decarboxylase 1 (Pdc1; EC 4.1.1.1), was identified as one of the major 'flux controlling' enzymes for the reaction and was replaced with an evolved version of Pdc1 that has over 20-fold greater activity under glycolysis reaction conditions. This substitution was only beneficial when the ratio of glycolytic enzymes was adjusted to suit greater Pdc1 activity.

Sequence analysis and structural characterization of a glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene from the phytopathogenic fungus Eremothecium ashbyi

Eremothecium ashbyi is a phytopathogenic fungus infesting cotton, soybeans and several other plants. This highly flavinogenic fungus has been phylogenetically characterized, but the genetic aspects of its central metabolic and riboflavin biosynthetic pathways are unknown. An ORF of 996 bp was obtained from E. ashbyi by using degenerate primers for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) through reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and 5'-3' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE-PCR). This nucleotide sequence had a high similarity of 88% with GPD sequence of Ashbya gossypii. The putative GPD peptide of 331-aa had a high similarity of 85% with the GPD sequence from other ascomycetes. The ORF had an unusually strong codon bias with 5 amino acids showing strict preference of a single codon. The theoretical molecular weight for the putative peptide was 35.58 kDa with an estimated pI of 5.7. A neighbor-joining tree showed that the putative peptide from E. ashbyi displayed the highest similarity to GPD of A. gossypii. The gene sequence is available at the GenBank, accession number EU717696. Homology modeling done with Kluyveromyces marxianus GPD (PDB: 2I5P) as template indicated high structural similarity.

Molecular characterization of tumor associated glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

Here we describe the purification of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) from normal leukocytes of healthy subjects and leukocytes of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients and from normal mouse muscle and sarcoma tissue. The data indicate that some properties of GAPDH of leukocytes of CML patients and sarcoma tissues are similar and also similar to those of EAC (Ehrlich ascites carcinoma) cellular GAPDH but distinctly different from those of the normal cellular GAPDH. Polyclonal antiserum raised against the 54 kDa subunit of EAC cell GAPDH strongly reacted with GAPDH of leukocytes of CML patients and sarcoma tissue GAPDH only and weakly reacted with GAPDH of normal leukocyte and normal muscle and a variety of other tissues of normal rats. Both the subunits of GAPDH of sarcoma tissues were partially sequenced from the N-terminus and compared with the known sequences of GAPDH. The altered properties of GAPDH of three different malignant sources might be common feature of all malignant cells, which is discussed in relation to glycolysis and malignant aberrations.

Kinetics of reactions catalyzed by enzymes in solutions of surfactants

The effect of surfactants, both in water-in-oil microemulsions (hydrated reverse micelles) and aqueous solutions upon enzymatic processes is reviewed, with special emphasis on the effect of the surfactant upon the kinetic parameters of the process. Differences and similarities between processes taking place in aqueous and organic solvents are highlighted, and the main models currently employed to interpret the results are briefly discussed.

Positive cooperativity in substrate binding of human prostatic acid phosphatase entrapped in AOT–isooctane–water reverse micelles

The kinetics of 1-naphthyl phosphate and phenyl phosphate hydrolysis, catalyzed by human prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) entrapped in AOT-isooctane-water reverse micelles, has been studied over surfactant hydration degree (w0) range 5 to 35. Continuous spectrophotometric acid phosphatase assays, previously prepared, were employed. PAP was catalytically active over the whole w0 studied range. In order to determine steady-state reaction constants the experimental data were fitted to Hill rate equation. Positive cooperativity in substrate binding was observed, as it was earlier found in aqueous solutions. The extent of cooperativity (expressed as the value of the Hill cooperation coefficient h) increased from 1 to 4, when the micellar water-pool size was growing, at fixed enzyme concentration. In the plots of catalytic activity (kcat) versus w0, the maxima have been found at w0=10 (pH 5.6) and 23 (pH 3.8). It is suggested that catalytically active monomeric and dimeric PAP forms are entrapped in reverse micelles of w0=10 and 23, respectively.

Participation of chaperonin GroEL in the folding of D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. An approach based on the use of different oligomeric forms of the enzyme immobilized on sepharose

The binding of denatured B. stearothermophilus D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) to the E. coli chaperonin GroEL was investigated in two systems: (1) GroEL immobilized on Sepharose via a single subunit was titrated with urea-denatured soluble GAPDH and (2) a Sepharose-bound denatured GAPDH monomer was titrated with soluble GroEL. Similar apparent KD values for the complex GroEL x GAPDH were obtained in both cases (0.04 and 0.03 microM, respectively), the stoichiometry being 1.0 mol chaperonin per GAPDH subunit in the system with the immobilized GroEL and 0.2 mol chaperonin per Sepharose-bound GAPDH monomer. Addition of GroEL and Mg x ATP to a reactivation mixture increased the yield of reactivation of both E. coli and B. stearothermophilus GAPDHs. Incubation of the Sepharose-bound catalytically active tetrameric and dimeric GAPDH forms with the protein fraction of a wild-type E. coli cell extract resulted in the binding of GroEL to the dimer and no interaction with the tetrameric form. These data suggest that GroEL may be capable of interacting with the interdimeric contact regions of the folded GAPDH dimers.