The reactivity of thiol groups and the subunit structure of aldolase

1. Seven unique carboxymethylcysteine-containing peptides have been isolated from tryptic digests of rabbit muscle aldolase carboxymethylated with iodo[2-(14)C]acetic acid in 8m-urea. These peptides have been characterized by amino acid and end-group analysis and their location within the cyanogen bromide cleavage fragments of the enzyme has been determined. 2. Reaction of native aldolase with 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid), iodoacetamide and N-ethylmaleimide showed that a total of three cysteine residues per subunit of mol.wt. 40000 were reactive towards these reagents, and that the modification of these residues was accompanied by loss in enzymic activity. Chemical analysis of the modified enzymes demonstrated that the same three thiol groups are involved in the reaction with all these reagents but that the observed reactivity of a given thiol group varies with the reagent used. 3. One reactive thiol group per subunit could be protected when the modification of the enzyme was carried out in the presence of substrate, fructose 1,6-diphosphate, under which conditions enzymic activity was retained. This thiol group has been identified chemically and is possibly at or near the active site. Limiting the exposure of the native enzyme to iodoacetamide also served to restrict alkylation to two thiol groups and left the enzymic activity unimpaired. The thiol group left unmodified is the same as that protected by substrate during more rigorous alkylation, although it is now more reactive towards 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) than in the native enzyme. 4. Conversely, prolonged incubation of the enzyme with fructose 1,6-diphosphate, which was subsequently removed by dialysis, caused an irreversible fall in enzymic activity and in thiol group reactivity measured with 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid). 5. It is concluded that the aldolase tetramer contains at least 28 cysteine residues. Each subunit appears to be identical with respect to number, location and reactivity of thiol groups.