Yeast glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase

Sepharose‐bound tetrameric, dimeric and monomeric forms of yeast glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase were prepared, as well as immobilized hybrid species containing (by selective oxidation of an active center cysteine residue with H 2 O 2 ) one inactivated subunit per tetramer or dimer. The catalytic properties of these enzyme forms were compared in the forward reaction (glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate oxidation) and reverse reaction (1,3‐bisphosphoglycerate reductive dephosphorylation) under steady‐state conditions. In the reaction of glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate oxidation, immobilized monomeric and tetrameric forms exhibited similar specific activities. The hybrid‐modified dimer contributed one half of the total activity of a native dimer. The tetramer containing one modified subunit possessed 75% of the activity of an unmodified tetramer. In the reaction of 1,3‐bisphosphoglycerate reductive dephosphorylation, the specific activity of the monomeric enzyme species was nearly twice as high as that of the tetramer, suggesting that only one‐half of the active centers of the oligomer were acting simultaneously. Subunit cooperativity in catalysis persisted in an isolated dimeric species. The specific activity of a monomer associated with a peroxide‐inactivated monomer in a dimer was equal to that of an isolated monomeric species and twice as high as that of a native immobilized dimer. The specific activity of subunits associated with a peroxide‐inactivated subunit in a tetramer did not differ from that of a native immobilized tetramer; this indicates that interdimeric interactions are involved in catalytic subunit cooperativity. A complex was formed between the immobilized glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase and soluble phosphoglycerate kinase. Three monomers of phosphoglycerate kinase were bound per tetramer of the dehydrogenase and one per dimer. Evidence is presented that if the reductive dephosphorylation of 1,3‐bisphosphoglycerate proceeds in the phosphoglycerate kinase – glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase complex, all active sites of the latter enzyme act independently, i. e. subunit cooperativity is abolished.