Bicarbonate stabilization of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase

The carboxylase and oxygenase activities of purified soybean ribulose 1,5-di-P carboxylase (EC4.1.1.39) were unstable when reactions were initiated with enzyme. Time courses of carboxylase and oxygenase activities were curvilinear, approximating hyperbolas. Double reciprocal plots of amount of CO2 incorporated and P-glycolate produced vs. time were constructed to determine a constant representing the half-time of initial enzyme activity, K. K increased with increasing bicarbonate concentration but was independent of O2 tensions between 0.21 and 5 atm. When time courses of carboxylase and oxygenase activities were determined simultaneously, K was identical for both activities. Linear time courses were obtained py preincubation of the enzyme for 10 min in the absence of bicarbonate or by adding 46 mM MgCl2 to the reaction mixture. The observed bicarbonate-dependent decline in ribulose 1,5-di-P carboxylase activity with time is the probable cause for the anomalously high Km(CO2) values previously reported for this enzyme. In the experiments reported here, the apparent Km(CO2) at pH 8.5 increased from 6 muM CO2 at zero time to 78 muM CO2 at 10 min. The corresponding bicarbonate Km values ar 1;3 and 17 mM, respectively, The interaction between bicarbonate and enzyme may be important in the light activation of photosynthetic CO2 fixation in vivo.