Inactivation of yeast hexokinase by Cibacron brilliant red 3B-A

Procion or Cibacron blue dyes, containing polynuclear aromatic rings and mono- and dichlorotriazine nuclei, immobilized on dextran matrices, have been used for over a decade to purify diverse groups of enzymes by dye-ligand chromatography. Comparatively less attention has been paid to investigating the nature of molecular interactions between similarly constituted red dyes and various enzymes so as to ascertain their potential and thus justify their use in the purification of enzymes by dye-ligand chromatography. We investigated and found that Cibacron brilliant red 3B-A, a monochlorotriazine dye, inhibited phosphotransferase activity of yeast hexokinase. The dissociation constant, KD, and the rate of dye-enzyme complex formation, k3, were 120 microM and 0.1 min-1, respectively. The enzyme was protected from inactivation by sugar and nucleotide substrates. About 2 mol of the dye bound per mole of the enzyme. The chromophore of the dye showed absorption at 524 nm. The visible difference spectrum of increasing concentration of the dye and same concentrations of the dye plus a fixed concentration of hexokinase exhibited a maximum, a minimum, and an isosbestic point at 569, 501, and 512 nm, respectively. The difference spectrum of the dye and dye in 60% ethylene glycol showed a maximum and a minimum at 556 and 495 nm, respectively. The dye showed no visible difference spectrum in the presence of hexokinase modified at the active site by iodoacetamide, pyridoxal phosphate, and o-phthalaldehyde. Hexokinase modified by the dye coeluted with the unmodified enzyme during size-exclusion chromatography in the absence or presence of guanidinium hydrochloride. These results suggest that the dye interacts with the hydrophobic environment of the active site of the enzyme. Analysis of the kinetics of inhibition of hexokinase by model compounds and comparison of their computer-assisted three-dimensional representations with that of Cibacron brilliant red 3B-A suggest that 1-amino-8-naphthol-3,6-disulfonic acid may represent the minimum structure for the dye to bind.