Kinetic properties and inhibition of Acinetobacter glutaminase-asparaginase

Kinetic parameters, substrate specificity and exclusivity of ligands at binding sites of L-glutaminase-L-asparaginase purified from Acinetobacter glutaminasificans were studied in order to gain knowledge about the dual activities of this enzyme and its inhibition by structural analogs. Both L-glutamine and L-asparagine, which showed similar Km (4 approximately 7 X 10(-5) M) and Vmax (molecular activity 1.0 min-1) values, were competitive with each other for the substrate binding site. The products, L-glutamic acid and L-aspartic acid, showed competitive inhibition with respect to either L-glutamine or L-asparagine as substrates. Multiple inhibition of the glutaminase activity by L-glutamic acid and L-aspartic acid indicated that these ligands are mutually exclusive at the product-releasing site. The initial rates of both of the enzyme's activities were competitively inhibited by the following inhibitors (in rates of both of the enzyme's activities were competitively inhibited by the following inhibitors (in decreasing order of activity): 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine (DON), L-methionine sulfoximine, azaserine, and Acivicin. DON and azaserine inhibited both the asparaginase and glutaminase activities in a time-dependent and irreversible manner. The kinetic data suggest an ordered mechanism with glutamine or asparagine as the first substrate and glutamic acid or aspartic acid, respectively, as the last product. These results also suggest that a single mechanism and a single set of binding sites are responsible for catalyzing both of the enzyme's activities. The data also showed that succinylated enzyme, which has a 10-fold increase of plasma half-life in animals and humans and, thus, has benefit as a cancer chemotherapeutic agent, retained its catalytic activity and maintained Km and Vmax values similar to the native enzyme.