title: Effects of novel maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY)-associated mutations on glucokinase activity and protein stability.
abstract: Glucokinase acts as the pancreatic glucose sensor and plays a critical role in the regulation of insulin secretion by the beta-cell. Heterozygous mutations in the glucokinase-encoding GCK gene, which result in a reduction of the enzymatic activity, cause the monogenic form of diabetes, MODY2 (maturity-onset diabetes of the young 2). We have identified and functionally characterized missense mutations in the GCK gene in diabetic families that result in protein mutations Leu165-->Phe, Glu265-->Lys and Thr206-->Met. The first two are novel GCK mutations that co-segregate with the diabetes phenotype in their respective families and are not found in more than 50 healthy control individuals. In order to measure the biochemical effects of these missense mutations on glucokinase activity, we bacterially expressed and affinity-purified islet human glucokinase proteins carrying the respective mutations and fused to GST (glutathione S-transferase). Enzymatic assays on the recombinant proteins revealed that mutations Thr206-->Met and Leu165-->Phe strongly affect the kinetic parameters of glucokinase, in agreement with the localization of both residues close to the active site of the enzyme. In contrast, mutation Glu265-->Lys, which has a weaker effect on the kinetics of glucokinase, strongly affects the protein stability, suggesting a possible structural defect of this mutant protein. Finally, none of the mutations tested appears to affect the interaction of gluco-kinase with the glucokinase regulatory protein in the yeast two-hybrid system.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular III, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid 28040, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galán
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vincent
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Roncero
authors.forename: Sharona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Azriel
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boix-Pallares
authors.forename: Elías
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Delgado-Alvarez
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Díaz-Cadórniga
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blázquez
authors.forename: María-Angeles
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Navas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D004795:Enzyme Stability / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005941:Glucokinase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D010375:Pedigree; D010641:Phenotype; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D005941:Glucokinase