Chemical studies of high-Km aldehyde dehydrogenase from rat liver mitochondria

Studies of pH-dependent kinetics implicate two ionizable groups in the dehydrogenase and esterase reactions catalysed by high-Km aldehyde dehydrogenase from rat liver mitochondria. Sensitized photooxidation completely arrests the bifunctional activities of the dehydrogenase. Carboxamidomethylation abolishes the dehydrogenase activity, whereas acetimidination eliminates the esterase activity. These results suggest that histidine (pKa near 6) and cysteine (pKa near 10) are likely the catalytic residues for the dehydrogenase activity, while the esterase activity is functionally related to histidine (pKa near 7) and a residue with the pKa value of 10-11. The two residues, a carboxyl group and an arginine, that discriminate between NAD+ and NADP+ are present at the coenzyme binding site of the mitochondrial high-Km aldehyde dehydrogenase from rat liver.