Interaction of thiolsubtilisin with Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor, SSI

Subtilisin BPN' was chemically converted to thiolsubtilisin and the interaction of this modified enzyme with Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor (SSI) was examined. SSI competitively inhibited the esterolytic activity of thiolsubtilisin toward p-nitrophenyl acetate with a K1 value of 1.3 X 10(-5) M at pH 7.5 Spectrophotometric analysis of the interaction between SSI and the modified enzyme yielded a Kd value of 4 X 10(-5) M at pH 9.7. These values are about 10(5)-fold greater than the Kd value (less than 10(-9) M at pH 7.5) for the native enzyme. This indicates that the small change in the active site structure of subtilisin (Ser221 to Cys221) leads to a considerable decrease in the binding affinity (by about 6-7 kcal/mol) to SSI.