title: Rapid kinetics of Na+ binding to thrombin.
abstract: The kinetic mechanism of Na(+) binding to thrombin was resolved by stopped-flow measurements of intrinsic fluorescence. Na(+) binds to thrombin in a two-step mechanism with a rapid phase occurring within the dead time of the spectrometer (<0.5 ms) followed by a single-exponential slow phase whose k(obs) decreases hyperbolically with increasing [Na(+)]. The rapid phase is due to Na(+) binding to the enzyme E to generate the E:Na(+) form. The slow phase is due to the interconversion between E(*) and E, where E(*) is a form that cannot bind Na(+). Temperature studies in the range from 5 to 35 degrees C show significant enthalpy, entropy, and heat capacity changes associated with both Na(+) binding and the E to E(*) transition. As a result, under conditions of physiologic temperature and salt concentrations, the E(*) form is negligibly populated (<1%) and thrombin is almost equally partitioned between the E (40%) and E:Na(+) (60%) forms. Single-site Phe mutations of all nine Trp residues of thrombin enabled assignment of the fluorescence changes induced by Na(+) binding mainly to Trp-141 and Trp-215, and to a lesser extent to Trp-148, Trp-207, and Trp-237. However, the fast phase of fluorescence increase is influenced to different extents by all Trp residues. The distribution of these residues over the entire thrombin surface demonstrates that Na(+) binding induces long-range effects on the structure of the enzyme as a whole, contrary to the conclusions drawn from recent structural studies. These findings elucidate the mechanism of Na(+) binding to thrombin and are relevant to other clotting factors and enzymes allosterically activated by monovalent cations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Alaji
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bah
authors.forename: Laura C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Garvey
authors.forename: Jingping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Cera
mesh_terms: D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010649:Phenylalanine / Q000235:genetics; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000235:genetics; D012964:Sodium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013816:Thermodynamics; D013917:Thrombin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014364:Tryptophan / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D010649:Phenylalanine; D014364:Tryptophan; D012964:Sodium; D013917:Thrombin