[Pyruvate dehydrogenase from pigeon breast muscle. Chemical modification of the enzyme associated with conformation changes in the protein molecule]

The two-phase character of essential histidine residues modification of pyruvate dehydrogenase component of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex from pigeon breast muscle by diethylpyrocarbonate has been demonstrated. The relative amplitude of the fast phase increases with increasing the modificator concentration. The model of chemical modification of dimeric enzyme where the modification of the residue in one subunit leads to the change of reactivity of corresponding residue in the other subunit is used for the description of inactivation kinetics. The expression for the diminishing of enzyme activity in the course of chemical modification and the methods of kinetic parameters estimation have been proposed. The following values of kinetic parameters for the modification of pyruvate dehydrogenase component by diethylpyrocarbonate were obtained (pH 6.0; 20 degrees C): k1 = 6400 +/- 400 M-1 min-1 (the microscopic rate constant for the modification of histidine residue in the intact dimer), k2 = 890 +/- 200 M-1 min-1 (the rate constant for the modification of histidine residue in the intact subunit in the dimer which contains one modified subunit) and kt = 0.9 +/- 0.2 min-1 (the rate constant for conformational transition of the dimer induced by modification of histidine residue in one of the subunits in the dimeric molecule).