Adaptive character of liver glucokinase

1. Glucokinase is one of four glucose phosphorylating enzymes present in rat liver. Its distinctive features are a high K-m for glucose (high-K-m isozyme) and a rather narrow substrate specificity. In contrast, the other three enzymes, collectively called hexokinases or low-K-m isozymes, exhibit low K-m values for glucose and a wider substrate specificity. 2. Glucokinase is present in the liver os mammals (with some exceptions), amphibians and lower reptiles; It is absent from higher reptiles and birds. The presence or absence of glucokinase may represent an evolutionary adaptation to feeding habits and other physiological peculiarities. Differences in the immunological behavior and in the kinetic parameters of glucokinases from different taxa suggest the operation of divergent evolution. 3. The levels of glucokinase in rat liver depend strictly on the supply of carbohydrate in the diet. Glycogen phosphorylase and glycogen synthetase behave similarly, whereas other carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes depend on the provision of either protein or protein plus carbohydrate. Glucokinase decays with a half-life of 33 hr when rats are starved or fed a carbohydrate-free diet, and is induced by the administration of glucose. The adaptive character is not exhibited by all mammals, indicating evolutionary discrimination within the same class and even within the same single order Rodentia. Enzyme adaptation in the liver may partially explain the condition known as 'hunger diabetes'. 4. The endocrine system plays a paramount role in glucokinase adaptation, since insulin is essential for glucose-dependent glucokinase induction and, on the other hand, glucagon, catecholamines and cyclic AMP prevent the induction. Glucocorticoids and some pituitary hormones modulate the rate of induction. The mechanisms underlying the hormonal regulation of glucokinase levels are not well known. 5. The variations in liver glucokinase correspond to changes in the amount of enzyme protein as assessed by immunochemical titration. This fact agrees with the effects of inhibitors of protein synthesis on glucokinase induction. 6. An antiserum against rat glucokinase reacts with the enzyme from mammals and turtles but not with the amphibian enzyme. It does not react with low-K-m hexokinases from different sources. 7. The saturation function for glucose is sigmoidal in mammalian and amphibian glucokinases but not in glucokinase from lower reptiles. The Hill's coefficient is very constant with values about 1.6. The K0.5 (concentration for half saturation) values in the different species studied vary between 1.5 and 8 mM. These kinetic parameters may be considered as another adaptive feature aimed to give maximal efficiency to the liver uptake of glucose at the changeable concentrations in the blood resulting from variations in the amount of dietary glucose.