title: Domain-specific determinants of catalysis/substrate binding and the oligomerization status of barley UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase.
abstract: UDP-glucose (UDPG) pyrophosphorylase (UGPase) produces UDPG for sucrose and polysaccharide synthesis and glycosylation reactions. In this study, several barley UGPase mutants were produced, either single amino acid mutants or involving deletions of N- and C-terminal domains (Ncut and Ccut mutants, respectively) and of active site region ("NB loop"). The Del-NB mutant yielded no activity, whereas Ncut deletions and most of Ccut mutants, including short deletions at the so called "I-loop" region of C-terminal domain, as well as a single K260A mutant resulted in very low activity. For wt and the mutants, kinetics with UDPG were linear on reciprocal plots, whereas PPi at concentrations above 1 mM exerted strong substrate inhibition. Both K260A and most of the Ccut mutants had very high Km with PPi (up to 33 mM), whereas Ncut deletions had greatly increased Km with UDPG (up to 57 mM). Surprisingly, an 8 amino acid deletion from end of the C-terminus resulted in an enzyme (Ccut-8 mutant) with 44% higher activity when compared to wt, but with similar Km values. Whereas Ccut-8 existed solely as a monomer, other deletion mutants had a more oligomerized status, e.g. Ncut mutants existing primarily as dimers. Overall, the data confirmed the essential role of NB loop in catalysis, but also pointed out to the role of both N- and C-termini for activity, substrate binding and oligomerization. The importance of oligomerization status for enzymatic activity of UGPase is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fitzek
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gajowniczek
authors.forename: Malgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wilczynska
authors.forename: Leszek A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Kleczkowski
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D020134:Catalytic Domain / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D011756:Diphosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D001467:Hordeum / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D007700:Kinetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D005957:UTP-Glucose-1-Phosphate Uridylyltransferase / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D011756:Diphosphates; D010940:Plant Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D005957:UTP-Glucose-1-Phosphate Uridylyltransferase