Evolutionary reengineering of the phosphofructokinase active site: ARG-104 does not stabilize the transition state in...

Arg-104 of the kinase domain of 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose 2,6-bisphosphatase was mutated to alanine, the mutant enzyme expressed in E. coli with a T7 RNA polymerase-based expression system, and purified to homogeneity by Blue-Sepharose and Q-Sepharose chromatography. The mutant enzyme exhibited a 200-fold increase in Km for fructose-6-phosphate, no change in Km for ATP, and a 2-3-fold increase in catalytic rate. The results indicate that Arg-104, along with Arg-195, are the principal binding site residues for the 6-phosphate group of fructose-6-phosphate. In contrast to the corresponding residue in the related E. coli 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase, Arg-104 did not stabilize the transition state at pH 7-9. The Arg-104 mutation also decreased Fru-2,6-P2ase activity without affecting substrate inhibition, which suggests that this mutation affects the bisphosphatase active site conformation and/or substrate access to it.