Iron: a possible heterotropic effector of prolyl hydroxylase

The mechanism of ferrous ion binding to prolyl hydroxylase (prolyl-glycyl-peptide,2-oxoglutarate:oxygen oxidoreductase, EC 1.14.11.2) was studied according to Koshland's curve-fitting procedure (Cornish-Bowden, A. and Koshland, Jr., D.E. (1970) Biochemistry 9, 3325--3336). The calculated data obtained by means of the unrestricted Adair equation were found to provide an adequate fit with experimentally obtained values, whereas those obtained on the basis of Michaelis-Menten kinetics did not. This suggests that prolyl hydroxylase could be an allosteric enzyme under positive heterotropic control.