Reduced activity of alkaline phosphatase due to host-guest interactions with humic superstructures

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was applied to directly study the interactions between the alkaline phosphatase enzyme (AP) and two different humic acids from a volcanic soil (HA-V) and a Lignite deposit (HA-L). Addition of humic matter to enzyme solutions caused signals broadening in (1)H-NMR spectra, and progressive decrease and increase of enzyme relaxation (T1 and T2) and correlation (τC) times, respectively. Spectroscopic changes were explained with formation of ever larger weakly-bound humic-enzyme complexes, whose translational and rotational motion was increasingly restricted. NMR diffusion experiments also showed that the AP diffusive properties were progressively reduced with formation of large humic-enzyme complexes. The more hydrophobic HA-L affected spectral changes more than the more hydrophilic HA-V. (1)H-NMR spectra also showed the effect of progressively greater humic-enzyme complexes on the hydrolysis of an enzyme substrate, the 4-nitrophenyl phosphate disodium salt hexahydrate (p-NPP). While AP catalysis concomitantly decreased NMR signals of p-NPP and increased those of nitrophenol, addition of humic matter progressively and significantly slowed down the rate of change for these signals. In agreement with the observed spectral changes, the AP catalytic activity was more largely inhibited by HA-L than by HA-V. Contrary to previous studies, in which humic-enzyme interactions were only indirectly assumed from changes in spectrophotometric behavior of enzyme substrates, the direct measurements of AP behavior by NMR spectroscopy indicated that humic materials formed weakly-bound host-guest complexes with alkaline phosphatase, and the enzyme catalytic activity was thereby significantly inhibited. These results suggest that the role of extracellular enzymes in soils may be considerably reduced when they come in contact with organic matter dissolved in the soil solution.