Acetyl Coenzyme A-Glutamate Acetyltransferase and N2-Acetylornithine-Glutamate Acetyltransferase of Chlorella

The enzymic formation of acetylglutamate has been studied in Chlorella vulgaris extracts. Acetyl CoA and N(2)-acetyl-l-ornithine served as substrates for glutamate acetylation whereas acetylphosphate, N(5)-acetyl-l-ornithine, and N(2)-acetyl-2,4-diamino butyrate were ineffective. Acetyl CoA-glutamate transacetylase and acetylornithine-glutamate transacetylase activities have been purified over 180-fold with no indication of any separation of activities. The acetyl CoA activity was more labile than acetylornithine activity so that preparations having acetylornithine-glutamate transacetylase activity but no acetyl CoA-glutamate transacetylase activity were obtained. The two acetylating activities appear to be properties of one enzyme with one portion more easily denatured.Both acetylating activities had pH optima between 8 and 8.5. The Km value for glutamate was 3 mm for both activities. The Km values were 0.2 mm for acetylornithine and 3.2 mm for acetyl CoA. Arginine inhibited acetyl CoA-glutamate transacetylase (Ki = 0.94 mm) and acetylglutamate phosphokinase (Ki = 0.5 mm) but had no effect on acetylornithine-glutamate transacetylase. The lack of an inhibitory effect of proline on any of the three enzymic activities indicates that acetylglutamate is not a normal intermediate in proline biosynthesis. Growth of Chlorella with arginine as a nitrogen source had no effect on enzyme levels, showing that end-product repression is not a control factor in arginine biosynthesis in Chlorella. In Chlorella, arginine controls its own biosynthesis by inhibiting acetylglutamate phosphokinase and controls the level of acetylated intermediates by inhibiting acetyl CoA-glutamate transacetylase.