scholarly journals Chemical evidence for the pH-dependent control of ion-pair geometry in cathepsin B. Benzofuroxan as a reactivity probe sensitive to differences in the mutual disposition of the thiolate and imidazolium components of cysteine proteinase catalytic sites

1986 ◽  
Vol 238 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Willenbrock ◽  
K Brocklehurst

Benzofuroxan reacts with the catalytic-site thiol group of cathepsin B (EC 3.4.22.1) to produce stoichiometric amount of the chromophoric reduction product, o-benzoquinone dioxime. In a study of the pH-dependence of the kinetics of this reaction, most data were collected for the bovine spleen enzyme, but the more limited data collected for the rat liver enzyme were closely similar both in the magnitude of the values of the second-order rate constants (k) and in the shape of the pH-k profile. In acidic and weakly alkaline media, the reaction is faster than the reactions of benzofuroxan with some other cysteine proteinases. For example, in the pH region around 5-6, the reaction of cathepsin B is about 10 times faster than that of papain, 15 times faster than that of stem bromelain and 6 times faster than that of ficin. The pH-dependence of k for the reaction of cathepsin B with benzofuroxan was determined in the pH range 2.7-8.3. In marked contrast with the analogous reactions of papain, ficin and stem bromelain [reported by Shipton & Brocklehurst (1977) Biochem. J. 167, 799-810], the pH-k profile for the cathepsin B reaction contains a sigmoidal component with pKa 5.2 in which k increases with decrease in pH. This modulation of the reactivity of the catalytic-site -S-/-ImH+ ion-pair state of cathepsin B (produced by protonic dissociation from -SH/-ImH+ with pKa approx. 3) towards a small, rigid, electrophilic reagent, in a reaction that appears to involve both components of the ion-pair for efficient reaction, suggests that the state of ionization of a group associated with a molecular pKa of approx. 5 may control ion-pair geometry. This might account for the remarkable finding [reported by Willenbrock & Brocklehurst (1984) Biochem. J. 222, 805-814] that, although the ion-pair appears to be generated in cathepsin B as the pH is increased across pKa 3.4, catalytic competence is not generated until the pH is increased across pKa 5-6.

1983 ◽  
Vol 213 (3) ◽  
pp. 713-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Salih ◽  
K Brocklehurst

Benzofuroxan reacts with the catalytic-site thiol group of actinidin (EC 3.4.22.14, the cysteine proteinase from Actinidia chinensis) to produce stoicheiometric amounts of the chromophoric reduction product, o-benzoquinone dioxime, and of a catalytically inactive derivative of actinidin that is devoid of thiol and that is assumed to contain, initially at least, the sulphenic acid of cysteine-25. A similar result applies also to papain (EC 3.4.22.2). The rate of o-benzoquinone dioxime formation is neither increased by inclusion of 2-mercaptoethanol or hydroxylamine in the reaction mixture nor decreased by changing the solvent from H2O to 2H2O. The change of solvent was shown to be without effect also on the rate of reaction of benzofuroxan with papain. These results suggest that the reactions of benzofuroxan with both actinidin and papain involve rate-determining attack of the catalytic-site thiol group to produce an intermediate adduct that then reacts rapidly with water to form enzyme sulphenic acid and o-benzoquinone dioxime. The pH-dependence of the second-order rate constant for the reaction of benzofuroxan with actinidin was determined in the pH range 4.3-10.2. In marked contrast with the analogous reaction of papain (reported by Shipton & Brocklehurst [(1977) Biochem. J. 167, 799-810]) the pH-k profile for the actinidin reaction clearly contains a sigmoidal component with pKa 5.5, in which k increases with decreasing pH. These data together with the molecular pKa values for S-/ImH+ ion-pair formation and decomposition (3.0 and 9.6) suggest that the combined nucleophilic-electrophilic reactivity of the ion-pair of actinidin might be controlled by the state of ionization of another ionizing group, associated with the molecular pKa of 5.5. The pH-dependence of k for the reaction of actinidin with benzofuroxan at 25 degrees C at I 0.1 in aqueous buffers containing 6.7% (v/v) ethanol is probably adequately described by: k = k1/(1 + [H+]/KI + KII/[H+]) + k2/(1 + [H+]/KII + KIII/ [H+] + k3/(1 + [H+]/KIII) in which kI = 2.55 M -1 X s -1, k2 = 1.35 M -1, k3 = 0.93 M -1 X s -1, pKI = 3.0, pKII = 5.5 and pKIII = 9.6. By contrast, the analogous reaction of papain may be described by the same equation but with kI = 0, k2 = 2.2 M -1 X s -1, k3 = 1.3 M -1 X s -1, pKII = 3.6 and pKIII = 9.0.


1993 ◽  
Vol 290 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
G W Mellor ◽  
E W Thomas ◽  
C M Topham ◽  
K Brocklehurst

1. A new thiol-specific reactivity probe 4,4′-dipyrimidyl disulphide [compound (VII), m.p. 110 degrees C, pKa of its monohydronated form 0.91] was synthesized and used to resolve the ambiguity of interpretation of the behaviour of papain (EC 3.4.22.2) in alkaline media known to depend to varying extents on two ionizations with pKa values approx. 8.0-8.5 and > or = 9.5 respectively. 2. A new extensive pH-second-order rate constant (k) data set for the reaction of papain with 2-(acetamido)-ethyl 2′-pyridyl disulphide (IV) demonstrated the existence of a striking rate maximum at pH approx. 4, the independence of k around pH 8 and the increase in k with increase in pH across a pKa value of 10.0, behaviour similar to that of other 2-pyridyl disulphides (R-S-S-2-Py) that lack key substrate-like binding sites in R. 3. Although the simplest interpretation of the pKa value of 10.0 assigns it to the formation of (Cys-25)-S-/(His-159)-Im from the ion-pair state of the papain catalytic site, another interpretation may be conceived in which this pKa value is assigned to another group remote from the catalytic site, the state of ionization of which modulates catalytic-site behaviour. This alternative assignment is shown to require compensating effects in the pH region around 8 such that the formation of (Cys-25)-S-/(His-159)-Im across pKa 8.0-8.5 is without net kinetic effect in the reactions of simple 2-pyridyl disulphides such as compound (IV) and 2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide (II). 4. The lower basicity of compound (VII) relative to that of compound (II) (pKa 2.45) was predicted to diminish or abolish the compensation postulated as a possibility in reactions of 2-pyridyl disulphides because of the decreased effectiveness of reaction via a (His-159)-Im+H-assisted transition state. The characteristics of the pH-dependence of the reaction of papain with compound (VII) which are quite different from those for its reaction with compound (II) support both this prediction and the alternative assignment with a value of 8.3 for the pKa of the formation of (Cys-25)-S-/(His-159)-Im. 5. Evidence that the behaviour of papain towards both substrates and some substrate-derived time-dependent inhibitors is determined not only by the loss of the (Cys-25)-S-/(His-159)-Im+H ion-pair state by dehydronation with pKa 8.3 but also by another ionization of pKa approx. 10.0 is briefly discussed.


1989 ◽  
Vol 258 (3) ◽  
pp. 755-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Kowlessur ◽  
C M Topham ◽  
E W Thomas ◽  
M O'Driscoll ◽  
W Templeton ◽  
...  

1. 2-(N'-Acetyl-L-phenylalanyl)hydroxyethyl 2′-pyridyl disulphide (compound V) was synthesized, and a study of the pH-dependence of the second-order rate constant (k) for its reaction with the catalytic-site thiol group of papain (EC 3.4.22.2) was used to evaluate the consequences for transition-state geometry of the presence of a hydrophobic occupant for the S2 subsite of the enzyme in the absence of the N-H component of the P1-P2 amide bond. 2. Comparison of the pH-dependences of K for reactions of compound (V), 2-(acetamido)ethyl 2′-pyridyl disulphide (compound I) and 2-(acetoxy)ethyl 2′-pyridyl disulphide (compound III) with the cysteine-proteinase minimal catalytic-site model, benzimidazol-2-ylmethanethiol, established the activation of all of these pyridyl disulphides by hydronation and that their reactivities are relatively insensitive to structural change in the non-pyridyl part of the molecule. The marked differences in their reactivities towards papain therefore derive from binding, either directly, or indirectly via signalling mechanisms. 3. Comparison of the kinetic data for the reaction of papain with compound (V) with those for analogous reactions with reactivity probes that provide opportunities for a variety of binding interactions in the S1-S2 intersubsite region and in the S2 subsite itself lead to the following conclusions: (a) the (Gly-66) N-H...O = C less than (P1-P2 ester) interaction of papain with compound (III) provides for better binding relative to that for a probe with a simple hydrocarbon side chain, but no signalling to the catalytic site to provide a (His-159)-ImH+-assisted transition state; (b) when this interaction is augmented either by a (P1-P2 amide) N-H...O = C less than (Asp-158) interaction (compound I) or hydrophobic P2/S2 contacts (compound V), signalling to the catalytic region occurs to provide the assisted transition state; (c) when both the P2/S2 contacts and the interaction involving Gly-66 exist, provision additionally of the (P1-P2 amide) N-H...O = C less than (Asp-158) interaction [as in 2-(N'-acetyl-L-phenylalanylamino)ethyl 2′-pyridyl disulphide] serves only to assist the binding without an additional signalling effect. 4. Such studies promise to allow binding interactions that merely locate substrates in appropriate enzyme loci to be distinguished from those that transmit signals with a chemical consequence to catalytic sites.


1985 ◽  
Vol 227 (2) ◽  
pp. 511-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Willenbrock ◽  
K Brocklehurst

A procedure for the isolation of cathepsin B (EC 3.4.22.1) and of cathepsin H from bovine spleen involving covalent chromatography by thiol-disulphide interchange and ion-exchange chromatography was devised. The stabilities of both cathepsins in alkaline media are markedly temperature-dependent, and reliable kinetic data can be obtained at pH values up to 8 by working at 25 degrees C with a continuous spectrophotometric assay. Both enzyme preparations contain only one type of thiol group as judged by reactivity characteristics towards 2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide at pH values up to 8; in each case this thiol group is essential for catalytic activity. Cathepsin H was characterized by kinetic analysis of the reactions of its thiol group with 2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide in the pH range approx. 2-8 and the analogous study on cathepsin B [Willenbrock & Brocklehurst (1984) Biochem. J. 222, 805-814] was extended to include reaction at pH values up to approx. 8. Cathepsin H, like the other cysteine proteinases, was shown to contain an interactive catalytic-site system in which the nucleophilic character of the sulphur atom is maintained in acidic media. The considerable differences in catalytic site characteristics detected by this two-protonic-state reactivity probe between cathepsin B, cathepsin H, papain (EC 3.4.22.2) and actinidin (EC 3.4.22.14) are discussed. Reaction with 2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide in acidic media, which is known to provide a rapid spectrophotometric active centre titration for many cysteine proteinases, is applicable to cathepsin H. This is useful because other active-centre titrations have proved unsuitable in view of the relatively low reactivity of the thiol group in cathepsin H.


1984 ◽  
Vol 222 (3) ◽  
pp. 805-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Willenbrock ◽  
K Brocklehurst

Cathepsin B (EC 3.4.22.1) from bovine spleen and the analogous enzyme from rat liver were investigated at 25 degrees C at I0.1 in acidic media by kinetic study of (a) the reactions of their catalytic-site thiol groups towards the two-protonic-state reactivity probe 2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide and (b) their catalysis of the hydrolysis of N-alpha-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-arginyl-L-arginine 2-naphthylamide. Reactivity-probe kinetics showed that nucleophilic character is generated in the sulphur atom of cathepsin B by protonic dissociation with pKa 3.4, presumably to form an S-/ImH+ ion-pair. Substrate-catalysis kinetics showed that ion-pair formation is not sufficient to generate catalytic competence in cathepsin B, because catalytic activity is not generated as the pH is raised across pKa 3.4 but rather as it is raised across pKa 5-6 (5.1 for kcat; 5.6 for kcat./Km for the bovine spleen enzyme and 5.8 for kcat./Km for the rat liver enzyme). The implications of these results and of known structural differences between the catalytic sites of the rat liver enzyme and papain (EC 3.4.22.2) for the mechanism of cysteine-proteinase-catalysed hydrolysis are discussed.


1987 ◽  
Vol 247 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Salih ◽  
J P G Malthouse ◽  
D Kowlessur ◽  
M Jarvis ◽  
M O'Driscoll ◽  
...  

The characteristics of actinidin (EC 3.4.22.14) and papain (EC 3.4.22.2), two cysteine proteinases whose catalytic-site regions appear to superimpose to a degree that approaches atomic co-ordinate accuracy of both crystal structures, were evaluated by determining (a) the pH-dependence in acid media of the acylation process of the catalytic act (k+2/Ks) using N alpha-benzoyl-L-arginine p-nitroanilide (L-Bz-Arg-Nan) as substrate and (b) the sensitivity of the reactivity of the catalytic-site thiol group and its pH-dependence to structural change in small, thiol-specific, two-protonic-state reactivity probes (2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide and methyl 2-pyridyl disulphide) where enzyme-probe contacts should be restricted to areas close to the catalytic site. Distortion of the catalytic sites of the two enzymes at pH less than 4 was evaluated over time-scales appropriate for both stopped-flow reactivity probe kinetics (less than or equal to 1-2 s) and steady-state substrate catalysis kinetics (3-5 min) by using the 2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide monocation as a titrant for non-distorted catalytic sites. This permitted a lower pH limit to be defined for valid kinetic analysis of both types. The behaviour of the enzymes at pH less than 4 requires a kinetic model in which the apparently biomolecular reaction of enzyme with probe reagent is separated from the process leading to loss of conformational integrity by a potentially reversible step. The acylation of actinidin with L-Bz-Arg-Nan in acidic media occurs in two protonic states, one produced by raising the pH across pKa less than 4 which probably characterizes the formation of -S-/-ImH+ ion pair (pKa approx. 3) and the other, of higher reactivity, produced by raising the pH across pKa 5.5, which may characterize rearrangement of catalytic-site geometry. The pH-dependence of the acylation of papain by L-Bz-Arg-Nan is quite different and is not influenced by protonic dissociation with pKa values in the range 5-6. The earlier conclusion that the acylation of papain depends on two protonic dissociations each with pKa approx. 4 was confirmed. This argument is now more firmly based because titration with 2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide permits the loss of conformational integrity to be taken into account in the analysis of the kinetic data at very low pH. Methyl 2-pyridyl disulphide was synthesized by reaction of pyridine-2-thione with methyl methanethiolsulphonate and its pKa at I = 0.1 was determined by spectral analysis at 307 nm to be 2.8.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


1985 ◽  
Vol 227 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Willenbrock ◽  
K Brocklehurst

The pH-dependences of kcat, Km and kcat./Km for the hydrolysis at 25 degrees C at I 0.1 of L-arginine 2-naphthylamide catalysed by cathepsin H from bovine spleen were determined in the pH range approx. 4-8. The pH-dependences of these kinetic parameters were determined also for the hydrolysis at 25 degrees C at I 0.1 of N-alpha-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-arginyl-L-arginine 2-naphthylamide catalysed by cathepsin B (EC 3.4.22.1) from bovine spleen in the pH range 7-8, which extends the studies in acidic media reported by Willenbrock & Brocklehurst [(1984) Biochem. J. 222, 805-814]. These results are discussed and related to those from the reactivity-probe kinetics reported in the preceding paper [Willenbrock & Brocklehurst (1985) Biochem. J. 227, 511-519] and to known structural features present in rat liver cathepsins B and H and in papain (EC 3.4.22.2) and actinidin (EC 3.4.22.14). Consideration of the kinetic data leads to the suggestion that in the cysteine proteinases rearrangement of intimate S-/ImH+ ion-pairs in catalytic sites is brought about by a combination of field effects in the immediate vicinity of the ion-pair and consequences of protonic dissociation of a group with pKa 5-6 remote from the catalytic site. The contributions of the two types of effect seem to differ from enzyme to enzyme. Of the four cysteine proteinases considered, only cathepsin B exerts an absolute requirement for the proton-deficient form of a group with pKa 5-6 for catalytic activity. Protonic dissociation with pKa 5-6 enhances catalytic activity in cathepsin H and in actinidin and appears to have little or no effect in papain. Only cathepsin B lacks a polar or negatively charged side chain in the residue analogous to Asp-158 in papain, and this is suggested to account for its total dependence on a protonic dissociation remote from the catalytic site.


1993 ◽  
Vol 290 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
G W Mellor ◽  
S K Sreedharan ◽  
D Kowlessur ◽  
E W Thomas ◽  
K Brocklehurst

1. Four calpain II heterodimers (80 kDa/30 kDa, 80 kDa/29 kDa, 80 kDa/26 kDa and 80 kDa/18 kDa) were isolated from fresh porcine kidney by (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B and subsequently on Reactive Red 120/agarose followed by f.p.l.c. on a Q-Sepharose Hi-Load 16/10 column. 2. The major component (80 kDa/30 kDa) was used to provide the catalytically active calpain II 80 kDa/18 kDa heterodimer by treatment with CaCl2; titration with trans-epoxysuccinyl-L-leucylamido-(4-guanidino)butane (E64) in the presence of monothioglycerol showed the preparation to have 1.0 +/- 0.05 catalytic sites per molecule of heterodimer. 3. The 80 kDa/30 kDa heterodimer was separated from monothioglycerol and other low-molecular-mass material by gel filtration on Sephadex G-25 without loss of catalytic activity towards sulphanilic acid/azocasein in the presence of added Ca2+. On storage overnight at a concentration of 3 microM in KCl at 4 degrees C in the absence of Ca2+ the activator-free preparation still produced fully active 80 kDa/18 kDa heterodimer on addition of Ca2+. 4. Activator-free 80 kDa/30 kDa heterodimer (in the absence of Ca2+) reacts relatively slowly with ethyl 2-pyridyl disulphide at pH 5.9; over 5000 s five thiol groups per molecule react, all at similar rates. In the presence of 8 mM CaCl2 under otherwise identical conditions (and also in the pH range 3.8-10.4) an initial faster phase of reaction corresponding to approx. one thiol group per molecule of heterodimer is generated, but it is not cleanly separated from the subsequent slower reactions on the stopped-flow trace. This fast phase of reaction does not occur when E64-inactivated calpain II is substituted for active 80 kDa/18 kDa heterodimer. 5. Greatly improved resolution of the fast phase of reaction involving the catalytic-site thiol group was achieved by using 2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide (2-Py-S-S-2-Py) instead of ethyl 2-pyridyl disulphide. 6. The pH-dependence of the second-order rate constant (k) for the reaction of the catalytically active activator-free 80 kDa/18 kDa calpain II heterodimer with 2-Py-S-S-2-Py was studied by stopped-flow spectral analysis in the pH range approx. 3-8 without interference from reactions of other thiol groups. 7. The form of the pH-k profile establishes for the first time the existence of an interactive catalytic site system [probably containing a (Cys)-S-/(His)-Im+H ion pair] analogous to those present in monomeric non-Ca(2+)-activated cysteine proteinases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


1986 ◽  
Vol 233 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
B S Baines ◽  
K Brocklehurst ◽  
P R Carey ◽  
M Jarvis ◽  
E Salih ◽  
...  

Chymopapain A was isolated from the dried latex of papaya (Carica papaya) by ion-exchange chromatography followed by covalent chromatography by thiol-disulphide interchange. The latter procedure was used to produce fully active enzyme containing one essential thiol group per molecule of protein, to establish that the chymopapain A molecule contains, in addition, one non-essential thiol group per molecule and to recalculate the literature value of epsilon 280 for the enzyme as 36 000 M−1 × cm −1. The Michaelis parameters for the hydrolysis of L-benzoylarginine p-nitroanilide and of benzyloxy-carbonyl-lysine nitrophenyl ester at 25 degrees C, and I 0.1 at several pH values catalysed by chymopapain A, papaya proteinase omega, papain (EC 3.4.22.2) and actinidin (EC 3.4.22.14) were determined. Towards these substrates chymopapain A has kcat./km values similar to those of actinidin and of papaya proteinase omega and significantly lower than those of papain or ficin. The environment of the catalytic site of chymopapain A is markedly different from those of other cysteine proteinases studied to date, as evidenced by the pH-dependence of the second-order rate constant (k) for the reaction of the catalytic-site thiol group with 2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide. The striking bell-shaped component that is a characteristic feature of the reactions of S-/ImH+ (thiolate/imidazolium) ion-pair components of many cysteine-proteinase catalytic sites with the 2,2′-dipyridyl disulphide univalent cation is not present in the pH-k profile for the chymopapain A reaction. The result is consistent with the presence of an additional positive charge in, or near, the catalytic site that repels the cationic form of the probe reagent. Resonance Raman spectra were collected at pH values 2.5, 6.0 and 8.0 for each of the following dithioacyl derivatives of chymopapain A: N-benzoylglycine-, N-(Beta-phenylpropionl)glycine- and N-methoxycarbonylphenylalanylglycine-. The main conclusion of the spectral study is that in each case the acyl group binds as a single population known as conformer B in which the glycinic N atom is in close contact with the thiol S atom of the catalytic-site cysteine residue, as is the case also for papain and other cysteine proteinases studied. Thus the abnormal catalytic-site environment of chymopapain A detected by the reactivity-probe studies, which may have consequences for the acylation step of the catalytic act, does not perturb the conformation of the bound acyl group at the acyl-enzyme-intermediate stage of catalysis.


1969 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-678 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Snellman

Cathepsin B from calf liver was obtained by a method involving preparation of a lysosomal–mitochondrial pellet and treatment of this pellet with acetone. The material was extracted with an acid buffer, pH4·0, and then precipitated from the extract with acetone. The precipitate was dissolved in phosphate buffer, pH7·4, and subjected to gel filtration on Sephadex G-200 and G-100. The cathepsin B emerged in a range of molecular weight much lower than 50000 as a well-defined component. The purity of this material was checked by electrophoresis. To obtain maximum activity the enzyme had to be activated with a chelating agent and a reducing agent (i.e. EDTA and cysteine). A number of different substrates were used. The enzyme was active for the hydrolysis of both peptide bonds and ester bonds and had approximately equal reactivity in the two cases. The pH-dependence of the hydrolysis was the same with both substrates. The binding of the substrates was half-maximal at pH4·5 and at pH6·8. A thiol group occurred in the active centre but this group ought to have a much higher pK than that found in this enzyme.


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