JBC, Vol. 250, Issue 17, 6852-6860, Sep, 1975
Aspartate transcarbamylase of Escherichia coli. Mechanisms of inhibition and activation by dicarboxylic acids and other anions
G. R. Jacobson and G. R. Stark
The interactions of several dicarboxylic acids and monoanions with
Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamylase and with its catalytic subunit
have been studied by ultraviolet difference spectroscopy and steady state
kinetics, with the following major findings. 1. A variety of dicarboxylic
acids compete with carbamyl-P for the active sites of unliganded catalytic
subunit, with steric requirements very different from those important for
competition with L-aspartate for the subunit/carbamyl-P complex.
Competition with carbamyl-P is much reduced if the dicarboxylic acid has a
positively charged amino group. Acetate and chloride also compete. 2. At pH
7, equal concentrations of lysine acetate and L-aspartate are equally
effective in displacing the transition state analog
N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA) from the active sites of the
concentrations of L-aspartate and lysine acetate is constant, increasing
the concentration of L-aspartate does not relieve inhibition of the enzyme
by PALA (Collins, K.C., and Stark, G. R. (1971) J. Biol. Chem. 246,
6599-6605). Therefore, the L-aspartate/subunit complex, like the
acetate/subunit complex, must be incapable of participating in the
catalytic reaction. We conclude that the kinetic mechanism is ordered, in
agreement with the recent findings of Wedler and Gasser (Wedler, F.C., and
Gasser, F.J. (1974), Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 163, 57-68) and in
disagreement with the interpretation of Heyde et al. (Heyde, E.,
Nagabhushanam, A., And Morrison, J.F. (1973) Biochemistry 12, 4718-4726)...