Kinetic studies of the yeast His-Asp phosphorelay signaling pathway

For both prokaryotic and eukaryotic His-Asp phosphorelay signaling pathways, the rates of protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation determine the stimulus-to-response time frame. Thus, kinetic studies of phosphoryl group transfer between signaling partners are important for gaining a full understanding of how the system is regulated. In many cases, the phosphotransfer reactions are too fast for rates to be determined by manual experimentation. Rapid quench flow techniques thus provide a powerful method for studying rapid reactions that occur in the millisecond time frame. In this chapter, we describe experimental design and procedures for kinetic characterization of the yeast SLN1-YPD1-SSK1 osmoregulatory phosphorelay system using a rapid quench flow kinetic instrument.