Inactivation of yeast hexokinase by Cibacron Blue 3G-A: spectral, kinetic and structural investigations

Yeast hexokinase, a homodimer (100 kDa), is an important enzyme in the glycolytic pathway. Although Cibacron Blue 3G-A (Reactive Blue 2) has been previously shown to inactivate yeast hexokinase, no comprehensive study exists concerning the nature of interaction(s) between hexokinase and the blue dye. A comparison of the computer-generated three-dimensional (3D) representations showed considerable overlap of the purine ring of ATP, a nucleotide substrate of hexokinase, with the hydrophobic anthraquinone moiety of the blue dye. The visible spectrum of the blue dye showed a characteristic absorption band centred at 628 nm. The visible difference spectrum of increasing concentration of the dye and the same concentrations of the dye plus a fixed concentration of hexokinase exhibited a maximum, a minimum and an isobestic point at 683, 585, and 655 nm respectively. The visible difference spectrum of the blue dye and the dye in 50% ethylene glycol showed a maximum and a minimum at 660 and 570 nm respectively. The visible difference spectrum of the blue dye in the presence of the dye and hexokinase modified at the active site by pyridoxal phosphate, iodoacetamide and o-phthalaldehyde was devoid of bands characteristic of the hexokinase-blue dye complex. Size-exclusion-chromatographic studies in the absence or presence of guanidinium chloride showed that the enzyme inactivated by the blue dye was co-eluted with the unmodified enzyme. The dialysis residue obtained after extensive dialysis of the gel-filtered complex, against a buffer of high ionic strength, showed an absorption maximum at 655 nm characteristic of the dye-enzyme complex. Inactivation data when analysed by ‘Kitz-Wilson’-type kinetics for an irreversible inhibitor, yielded values of 0.05 min-1 and 92 microM for maximum rate of inactivation (k3) and dissociation constant (Kd) for the enzyme-dye complex respectively. Sugar and nucleotide substrates protected hexokinase against inactivation by the blue dye. About 2 mol of the blue dye bound per mol of hexokinase after complete inactivation. The inactivated enzyme could not be re-activated in the presence of 1 M NaCl. These results suggest that Cibacron Blue 3G-A inactivated hexokinase by an irreversible adduct formation at or near the active-site. Spectral and kinetic studies coupled with an analysis of the 3D representations of model compounds corresponding to the substructures of the blue dye suggest that 1-amino-4-(N-phenylamino)anthraquinone-2-sulphonic acid part of the blue dye may represent the minimum structure of Cibacron Blue 3G-A necessary to bind hexokinase.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)