Specificity of thrombin: evidence for selectivity in acylation rather than binding for p-nitrophenyl...

The lysyl ester analogue p-nitrophenyl alpha-amino-p-toluate hydrobromide was synthesized, and its reactions with thrombin, trypsin, and plasmin were studied by stopped-flow and conventional methods. Kinetic parameters were compared with those determined for the arginyl ester analogue, p-nitrophenyl p-guanidinobenzoate hydrochloride, with these enzymes. By following nitrophenol release or proflavin absorption changes in the stopped-flow spectrophotometer, the constants Ks (enzyme-substrate binding), k2 (acylation), and k3 (deacylation) were determined. The major findings were: (1) Ks values were similar regardless of the substrate or the enzyme; (2) k3 was approximately the same for the reaction of the lysyl ester analogue with any enzyme; (3) k2 for the lysyl ester analogue was 1100 times greater with trypsin than with thrombin; and (4) k2 with thrombin was 60 times greater for the arginyl than for the lysyl ester analogue. The results suggest that the limited cleavage of lysyl bonds by thrombin is due in part to restricted acylation rather than substrate binding. The active site of thrombin, compared with that of trypsin, appears to have a more stringent requirement for the spatial relationship between the cationic group and the bond cleaved in substrates.