Interactions of hydrogen peroxide with ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase

Hydrogen peroxide inhibited both carboxylase and oxygenase activities of purified, and fully activated, spinach ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuP2) carboxylase-oxygenase. Inhibition of the carboxylase reaction was mixed competitive with respect to CO2 (Ki = 1.2 mM) and uncompetitive with respect to RuP2. For the oxygenase reaction, H2O2 was a competitive inhibitor with respect to O2 (Ki = 2.1 mM) and an uncompetitive inhibitor with respect to RuP2. H2O2 did not alter the stoichiometry between CO2 and RuP2 in the carboxylase reaction, indicating that H2O2 was not itself a substrate for the enzyme. RuP2 decreased the rate of deactivation of the enzyme which occurred at limiting CO2 concentrations. H2O2 greatly enhanced this stabilizing effect of RuP2 but had no effect on the rate of deactivation in the absence of RuP2. The inhibitory and stabilizing effects of H2O2 varied similarly with H2O2 concentration. These instantaneous, reversible effects of H2O2 were readily distinguishable from an irreversible inhibitory effect which occurred quite slowly, and in the absence of RuP2. These observations are discussed in relation to the enzyme's catalytic mechanism and its activation-deactivation transformations.