Carbon dioxide/bicarbonate is required for sensitive inactivation of mammalian glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate...

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) contains an active site Cys and is one of the most sensitive cellular enzymes to oxidative inactivation and redox regulation. Here, we show that inactivation by hydrogen peroxide is strongly enhanced in the presence of carbon dioxide/bicarbonate. Inactivation of isolated mammalian GAPDH by H₂O₂ increased with increasing bicarbonate concentration and was sevenfold faster in 25 mM (physiological) bicarbonate compared with bicarbonate-free buffer of the same pH. H₂O₂ reacts reversibly with CO₂ to form a more reactive oxidant, peroxymonocarbonate (HCO₄^-), which is most likely responsible for the enhanced inactivation. However, to account for the extent of enhancement, we propose that GAPDH must facilitate formation and/or targeting of HCO₄^- to promote its own inactivation. Inactivation of intracellular GAPDH was also strongly enhanced by bicarbonate: treatment of Jurkat cells with 20 µM H₂O₂ in 25 mM bicarbonate buffer for 5 min caused almost complete GAPDH inactivation, but no loss of activity when bicarbonate was not present. H₂O₂-dependent GAPDH inhibition in bicarbonate buffer was observed even in the presence of reduced peroxiredoxin 2 and there was a significant increase in cellular glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate/dihydroxyacetone phosphate. Our results identify an unrecognized role for bicarbonate in enabling H₂O₂ to influence inactivation of GAPDH and potentially reroute glucose metabolism from glycolysis to the pentose phosphate pathway and NAPDH production. They also demonstrate what could be wider interplay between CO₂ and H₂O₂ in redox biology and the potential for variations in CO₂ metabolism to influence oxidative responses and redox signaling.