Use of naturally fluorescent triacylglycerols from Parinari glaberrimum to detect low lipase activities from Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings.

The aim of this study was to design a convenient, specific, sensitive, and continuous lipase activity assay using natural long-chain triacylglycerols (TAGs). Oil was extracted from Parinari glaberrimum seed kernels and the purified TAGs were used as a substrate for detecting low levels of lipase activities. The purified TAGs are naturally fluorescent because more than half of the fatty acids from Parinari oil are known to contain 9,11,13, 15-octadecatetraenoic acid (parinaric acid) in its esterified form. The presence of detergents (sodium taurodeoxycholate, CHAPS, Sulfobetaine SB12, Tween 20, Brij 35, Dobanol, n-dodecylglucoside) above their critical micellar concentration dramatically increases the fluorescence of the parinaric acid released by various lipases. This increase in the fluorescence intensity is linear with time and proportional to the amount of lipase added. This new method, performed under non-oxidative conditions, was applied successfully to detecting low lipase levels in crude protein extracts from plant seeds and could be scaled down to microtiterplate measurements. Quantities as low as 0.1 ng of pure pancreatic lipase could be detected under standard conditions (pH 8). Lipase activity can also be assayed in acidic media (pH 5) using human gastric lipase. This simple and continuous assay is compatible with a high sample throughput and might be applied to detecting true lipase activities in various biological samples.

Study of fatty acid specificity of sunflower phospholipase D using detergent/phospholipid micelles.

The fatty acid specificity of phospholipase D purified from germinating sunflower seeds was studied using mixed micelles with variable detergent/phospholipid ratios. The main advantage of this approach is that since the substrate is integrated in the detergent micelles, comparisons can be made between the kinetic constants of a wide range of phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) compounds with various fatty acid contents. Phospholipase D is subject to interfacial activation as it is most active on water-insoluble substrates. It is not active on sphingomyelin and only slightly on lysophosphatidylcholine. By fitting the curves based on the experimental kinetic data, the interfacial dissociation constant of phospholipase D, the maximum hydrolysis rate Vm and the kinetic constant Km(B), were determined with the micellar substrate. The specificity of various substrates was examined by comparing the Vm/Km(B) values, and it was noted that sunflower phospholipase D is most active on medium-chain fatty PtdCho compounds. With long-chain natural phospholipids, the specificity of phospholipase D was slightly dependent on the level of fatty acid unsaturation. The pure enzyme was able to hydrolyse the sunflower phospholipids present in mixed detergent micelles but not the phospholipids integrated in the natural sunflower oil body structure. We concluded, however, that during the germination of sunflower seeds, phospholipase D might be involved in the degradation of oil bodies, since other factors present in crude seed extracts may make phospholipids accessible to the enzyme.

Purification and characterization of a fatty acyl-ester hydrolase from post-germinated sunflower seeds.

Fatty acyl-ester hydrolase was not detectable in dry sunflower seeds using various p-nitrophenyl-acyl-esters, 1,2-O-didodecyl-rac-glycero-3-glutaric acid-resorufin ester or emulsified sunflower oil as substrate. After inhibition of the seeds, acyl-ester hydrolase activity slowly developed in cotyledon extracts and was maximal after 5 days. No activity was directly measurable on oil bodies. The enzyme was purified 615-fold to apparent homogeneity, as determined by performing SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, and biochemically characterized. With p-nitrophenyl-caprylate the optimum pH was around 8.0. The purification procedure involved an acetone powder from 5-day dark-germinated seedlings, chloroform-butanol extraction and three chromatography steps. We obtained 35 micrograms of pure enzyme from 250 g of fresh cotyledons with an activity yield of around 7%. It should be possible to subsequently improve this low recovery as we gave priority here, in the first instance, to purity at the expense of the yield. The enzyme consisted of one glycosylated polypeptide chain with a molecular mass of approx. 45 kDa and, as far as we could tell, it did not seem to require metal ions to be fully active, as it was not inhibited by EDTA or o-phenanthroline and not activated by various mono or bivalent metal ions. The amino acid composition showed the presence of four cysteine and four tryptophan residues. The enzyme was partially inhibited by dithiothreitol, DTNB and PCMB. The fact that high inhibition was observed in the presence of PMSF indicates that a serine residue may possibly be involved in the catalytic mechanism. The hydrophobicity index was about 53.6% which places this enzyme in the class of the soluble proteins in good agreement with the fact that it was mainly present in the soluble part of the crude extract. Partial characterization of glycan chains, using antiglycan antibodies, showed the presence of complex Asn-linked glycans. The enzyme was active on purified sunflower glycerol derivatives. It was also able to hydrolyze monooleyl and dioleyl glycerols, as well as phosphatidylcholine, but not cholesteryl esters. Using p-nitrophenyl-acyl-esters as substrate, the highest activity was observed with middle-chain derivatives (C6 and C8). Its maximum activity was about 0.015 units mg-1 with sunflower oil. It was not activated by an organic solvent such as isooctane. This enzyme probably is involved in acyl-ester hydrolysis which follows triacylglycerol mobilization by true lipases.

Characterization and kinetic properties of a soya-bean cell-wall phosphatase.

A phosphatase from soya-bean cell walls was purified to homogeneity and characterized. It consists of two identical 70-kDa subunits linked by one or several disulphide bridges and, to our knowledge, it does not seem to require metal ions to be fully active. At high substrate concentrations, the enzyme was most efficient at slightly alkaline pH levels, which is at variance with the acid requirements of phosphatases previously established in other plant cell walls; whereas at low substrate concentrations it was more active at acid pH levels. The results of kinetic studies suggested that three ionizable groups of the protein might take part in the reaction. This enzyme is able to hydrolyse various phosphate esters, including PCho and nucleotides. Comparisons between the properties of the enzyme bound to the cell walls to those of the purified enzyme suggest that it is the most common, and perhaps the sole, phosphatase present in soya-bean cell walls.

Regulation of plant cell-wall pectin methyl esterase by polyamines--interactions with the effects of metal ions.

The kinetic study of the de-esterification of natural pectin by soya bean or orange pectin methyl esterase shows that the rate of the reaction is highly controlled by the presence of polyamines. The reaction rate versus the polyamine concentration is a bell-shaped curve similar to that which is obtained when the concentration of salts is varied in the reaction mixture. However polyamines, in particular the largest ones, are more efficient than salts. The results may be interpreted by assuming that polyamines mainly interact with the negative charges of the pectic substrate which condition the binding of the pectin methyl esterase. Activating effects were observed at polyamine concentrations that have been shown to exist in the plant cell wall in vivo. Thus, polyamines may act as efficient regulators of the cell-wall pH via the control of the electrostatic cell-wall potential. If such is the case, they might have a role in all regulatory mechanisms in which cell-wall enzymes are involved.

Pectin methylesterase, metal ions and plant cell-wall extension. Hydrolysis of pectin by plant cell-wall pectin methylesterase.

The hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate catalysed by pectin methylesterase is competitively inhibited by pectin and does not require metal ions to occur. The results suggest that the activastion by metal ions may be explained by assuming that they interact with the substrate rather than with the enzyme. With pectin used as substrate, metal ions are required in order to allow the hydrolysis to occur in the presence of pectin methylesterase. This is explained by the existence of 'blocks' of carboxy groups on pectin that may trap enzyme molecules and thus prevent the enzyme reaction occurring. Metal ions may interact with these negatively charged groups, thus allowing the enzyme to interact with the ester bonds to be cleaved. At high concentrations, however, metal ions inhibit the enzyme reaction. This is again understandable on the basis of the view that some carboxy groups must be adjacent to the ester bond to be cleaved in order to allow the reaction to proceed. Indeed, if these groups are blocked by metal ions, the enzyme reaction cannot occur, and this is the reason for the apparent inhibition of the reaction by high concentrations of metal ions. Methylene Blue, which may be bound to pectin, may replace metal ions in the 'activation' and 'inhibition' of the enzyme reaction. A kinetic model based on these results has been proposed and fits the kinetic data very well. All the available results favour the view that metal ions do not affect the reaction through a direct interaction with enzyme, but rather with pectin.

Pectin methylesterase, metal ions and plant cell-wall extension. The role of metal ions in plant cell-wall extension.

The study of pectin methylesterase and wall-loosening enzyme activities in situ, as well as the estimation of the electrostatic potential of the cell wall, suggest a coherent picture of the role played by metal ions and pH in cell-wall extension. Cell-wall growth brings about a decrease of local proton concentration because the electrostatic potential difference (delta psi) of the wall decreases. This in turn activates pectin methylesterase, which restores the initial delta psi value. This process is amplified by the attraction of metal ions in the polyanionic cell-wall matrix. The amplification process is basically due to the release of enzyme molecules that were initially bound to 'blocks' of carboxy groups. This increase of metal-ion concentration also results in the activation of wall-loosening enzymes. Moreover, the apparent 'inhibition' of pectin methylesterase by high salt concentrations may be considered as a device which prevents the electrostatic potential from becoming too high.

Electrostatic effects and the dynamics of enzyme reactions at the surface of plant cells. 2. The role of pectin methyl esterase in the modulation of electrostatic effects in soybean cell walls.

The pectin methyl esterase from soybean cell walls has been isolated and purified to homogeneity. It is a protein with a relative molecular mass close to 33 000. The enzyme is maximally active at a pH close to 8 and its pH dependence may be explained by a classical Dixon model, where the two interconvertible enzyme ionization states coexist. The outflux of protons from cell walls, upon raising the ionic strength, may be taken as an indirect estimate of the fixed charge density. If the cell-wall fragments are pre-incubated at pH values between 5 and 9, the outflux of protons rises with the pH of pre-incubation. This implies, as postulated from the theory developed in the preceding paper, that alkaline pH favours the activity of pectin methyl esterase and that this enzyme effectively generates the fixed negative charges of the cell wall. Therefore the pectin methyl esterase reaction builds up the Donnan potential, delta psi, at the cell surface. The cell-wall charge density, estimated from the proton outflux, as well as from the titration of methyl groups on the cell wall, reaches a maximum between the third and the fourth day of growth. While the cell-wall volume increases and reaches a plateau, the fixed charge density increases at first and then declines. This is understandable if one assumes that the building up of a high charge density is a co-operative phenomenon and that the local pH inside the wall rises during cell growth. When both the cell-wall volume and the charge density increase together, this suggests that the local pH inside the wall lies within the critical pH range associated with the steep response of the system. When the cell-wall volume increases together with a decrease of the fixed charge density, the local pH should have dropped below this critical pH range. Under these conditions the pectin methyl esterase remains inactive, or poorly active. As the number of fixed negative charges increases, calcium becomes tightly bound to cell walls. This binding is so tight that the net charge density is minimum when the calcium concentration is maximum. The experimental results, presented above, offer experimental support to two important ideas discussed in the preceding paper, namely that pectin methyl esterase reaction builds up the Donnan potential at the cell surface, and that this response may be co-operative with respect to pH.

Electrostatic effects and the dynamics of enzyme reactions at the surface of plant cells. 3. Interplay between limited cell-wall autolysis, pectin methyl esterase activity and electrostatic effects in soybean cell walls.

Soybean cell walls display a process of autolysis which results in the release of reducing sugars from the walls. Loosening and autolysis of cell wall are involved in the cell-wall growth process, for autolysis is maximum during both cell extension and cell-wall synthesis. Autolysis goes to completion within about 50 h and is an enzymatic process that results from the activity of cell wall exo- and endo-glycosyltransferases. The optimum pH of autolysis is about 5. Increasing the ionic strength of the bulk phase where cell-wall fragments are suspended, results in a shift of the pH profile towards low pH. This is consistent with the view that at 'low' ionic strength, the local pH in the cell wall is lower than in the bulk phase. One of the main ideas of the model proposed in a preceding paper, is that pectin methyl esterase reaction, by building up a high fixed charge density, results in proton attraction in the wall. Low pH must then activate the wall loosening enzymes involved in autolysis and cell growth. This view may be directly confirmed experimentally. The pH of a cell-wall suspension, initially equal to 5, was brought to 8 for 20 min, then back to 5. Under these conditions, the rate of cell-wall autolysis was enhanced with respect to the rate of autolysis obtained with cell-wall fragments kept at pH 5. The pH response of the multienzyme plant cell-wall system basically relies on opposite pH sensitivities of the two types of enzymes involved in the growth process. Pectin methyl esterase, which generates the cell-wall Donnan potential, is inhibited by protons, whereas the wall-loosening enzymes involved in cell growth are activated by protons.

pH-induced co-operative effects in hysteretic enzymes. 2. pH-induced co-operative effects in a cell-wall beta-glucosyltransferase.

A beta-glucosyltransferase, extracted and purified from the cell walls of isolated soybean cells, displays hysteretic behaviour. The enzyme is monomeric and has a negative co-operative between pH 5.5 and 7.5. Below and above these pH values, the enzyme follows, or approaches, classical Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The free enzyme and the enzyme-glucose complex exhibit, upon pH jumps, conformational transitions which may be followed by monitoring the fluorescence of enzyme-bound toluidinylnaphthalene sulfonate. Taken together these results are consistent with the model of pH-induced co-operativity described in the preceding paper in this journal. This special type of co-operativity relies on a change of the pK value of a strategic ionizable group located outside the active site in a region (or a domain) of the protein which undergoes the conformational transition. The result that at 'low' and 'high' pH values, the enzyme follows or approaches Michaelis-Menten kinetics is explained by assuming that the conformational changes do not affect the active site.

pH-induced co-operative effects in hysteretic enzymes. 1. A theoretical model of a new type of co-operative behaviour controlled by pH.

A new model which provides an explanation for pH-induced co-operativity of hysteretic enzymes is proposed. The essence of the model is that a region, or a domain, of the enzyme undergoes a spontaneous 'slow' conformational change which does not affect the geometry of the active site. The region which undergoes this spontaneous conformational transition bears an ionizable group. Kinetic co-operativity occurs if the pK of this ionizable group changes upon this conformational transition. Thus co-operativity does not arise from a distortion of the active site. An interesting prediction of the model is that at 'extreme' pH values co-operativity must be suppressed. Although the kinetic equation pertaining to the model is of the 2:2 type, co-operativity is not maximum or minimum at half-saturation of the enzyme by the substrate, as occurs with 2:2 binding isotherms. A new index of maximum or minimum kinetic co-operativity, whether this extreme occurs at half-saturation or not, has been proposed which allows the change of kinetic co-operativity to be followed as a function of pH. It is believed that this model will be useful in explaining the behaviour of enzymes attached to biological polyelectrolytes, such as membranes or cell envelopes.

Complex-forming properties of spinach NADP+ reductase with ferredoxin, ferrocyanide and NADP+.

The flavoprotein NADP+ reductase from spinach chloroplasts may form a ternary complex with one molecule of NADP+ and one molecule of ferredoxin. Spectroscopic titration studies show that the NADP+ binding site and the ferredoxin binding site are totally independent, that is previous binding of ferredoxin does not modify binding of NADP+, and conversely. Since NADP+ reductase conditions the diaphorase reaction, that is an electron transfer between NADPH and various acceptors such as ferricyanide, the binding of ferrocyanide and its possible interaction with NADP+ and ferredoxin has been studied. Ferrocyanide behaves as a competitive inhibitor with respect to both NADP+ and ferredoxin. This seems paradoxical since NADP+ and ferredoxin are independently bound at two different non-overlapping sites of the flavoprotein. This apparent paradox may be resolved by a theoretical analysis of the interactions between either ferrocyanide and NADP+, or ferrocyanide and ferredoxin. Theory shows that if ferrocyanide is non-specifically bound at two independent sites, namely the NADP+ and the ferredoxin binding sites, it appears competitive with respect to both NADP+ and ferredoxin, although ternary flavoprotein-ferredoxin-ferrocyanide and flavoprotein-NADP+-ferrocyanide complexes are formed. The binding constants of NADP+, ferredoxin and ferrocyanide for the enzyme have been determined. These results are discussed in connection with the possible mechanism of the diaphorase reaction.