JBC, Vol. 250, Issue 15, 5782-5790, Aug, 1975
Interaction of D-beta-hydroxybutyrate apodehydrogenase with phospholipids
P. Gazzotti, H. Bock and S. Fleischer
The interaction of a soluble homogeneous preparation of
D-beta-hydroxybutyrate apodehydrogenase with phospholipid was studied in
terms of restoration of enzymic activity and complex formation. The
purified apoenzyme, which is devoid of lipid, is inactive. It is
reactivated specifically by the addition of lecithin or mixtures of
phospholipids containing lecithin. Mitochondrial phospholipid, i.e. the
mixture of phospholipids in mitochondria, reactivates with the highest
specific activity (approximately 100 micromol of DPN reduced/min/mg at 37
degrees and with the greatest efficiency (2.5 to 4 mol of lecithin/mol of
enzyme subunit). Each of the lecithins of varying chain length and
unsaturation reactivated the enzyme, albeit to differing extents and
efficiencies. In general, lecithins containing unsaturated fatty acid
moieties reactivated better than those containing the comparable saturated
lipid. Optimal reactivation can be obtained for the various lecithins when
they are microdispersed together with phosphatidylethanolamine. When the
lecithins are added microdispersed together with both
phosphatidylethanolamine and cardiolipin, maximal efficiency is obtained.
Also, PC6:0 and 8:0 reactivate as soluble molecules, so that a phospholipid
bilayer is not necessary to reactivate the enzyme. Complex formation was
studied using gel exclusion chromatography. It can be shown that each of
the phospholipids which reactivate combines with the apoenzyme.
Mitochondrial phospholipid, which reactivates the best, binds most
effectively; PC8:0, which reactivates with poor efficiency, can be shown to
bind with low affinity, and negligible binding occurs at concentrations
which do not reactivate the enzyme. Since the apoenzyme is apparently
homogeneous and devoid of phospholipid or detergents, it would appear that
reactivation does not involve reversal of inhibition such as by removal of
a regulatory subunit or detergent from the catalytic subunit. Rather, we
conclude that phospholipid is a necessary and integral portion of this
enzyme whose active form is a phospholipid-protein complex. The apoenzyme
also forms a complex with phosphatidylethanolamine and/or cardiolipin,
which do not reactivate enzymic activity. Salt dissociates such complexes
in contrast with the lecithin-apoenzyme complex. Binding of phospholipid is
a necessary but not sufficient requisite for enzymic activity. The same
energies of activation are obtained from Arrhenius plots for the
membrane-bound enzyme and for the purified soluble enzyme reactivated with
mitochondrial phospholipid or different lecithins. This observation is
compatible with the view that the purified enzyme has not been adversely
modified in the isolation. Furthermore, essentially the same energies of
activation were obtained for saturated lecithins below their transition
temperatures and for unsaturated lecithins above their transition
temperatures. Hence, there is no indication that a lipid phase transition
occurs to influence the activity of this enzyme.