A Kinetic Characterization of Slow Inactivation of Ribulosebisphosphate Carboxylase during Catalysis

The catalytic activity of ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco) declined as soon as catalysis was initiated by exposure to its substrate, d-ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (ribulose-P(2)). The decline continued exponentially, with a half-time of approximately 7 minutes until, eventually, a steady state level of activity was reached which could be as low as 15% of the initial activity. The ratio of the steady state activity to the initial activity was lower at low CO(2) concentration and at low pH. The inhibitors 6-phosphogluconate and H(2)O(2) alleviated the inactivation, increasing the final/initial rate ratio and the half-time. Varying ribulose-P(2) concentration in the range above that required to saturate catalysis did not affect the kinetics of inactivation. The affinities for CO(2) and ribulose-P(2) were unaffected by the inactivation. The decline in activity occurred with preparations of ribulose-P(2) which contained no detectable d-xylulose-1,5-bisphosphate and also with ribulose-P(2) which had been generated enzymatically immediately before use. Inclusion of an aldolase system for removing d-xylulose-1,5-bisphosphate also did not alter the inactivation process. The inactivated Rubisco did not recover after complete exhaustion of ribulose-P(2). We conclude that the inactivation is not caused by readily-reversible binding of ribulose-P(2) at a site different from the active site and that it is unlikely to be attributable to inhibitory contaminants in ribulose-P(2) preparations.