Complex formation between mycobacterial polysaccharides or cyclodextrins and palmitoyl coenzyme A.

The mycobacterial polysaccharides MMP (3-O-methyl-mannose-containing polysaccharide), MGLP (lipolysaccharide containing 6-O-methylglucose and glucose), and the cyclodextrins (cyclohexaamylose and cycloheptaamylose) form stoichiometric complexes with palmitoyl-CoA (Machida, Y., Bergeron, R., Flick, P., and Bloch, K. (1973) J. Biol. Chem. 248, 6246-6247). Complex formation is presumed to result from hydrophobic interactions. In order to enhance the hydrophobic character of the cyclodextrins the following derivatives have been synthesized: heptakis (2,di-O-propyl)-, heptakis (2,6-di-O-methyl)-, pentakis (6-O-methyl)-, heptakis (3-O-methyl)-, and permethylated beta-cyclo-dextrin. These compounds stimulate fatty acid synthesis catalyzed by the Mycobacterium smegmatis fatty acid synthetase, the magnitude of the effect decreasing in the order in which the alkylated cyclodextrins are listed above. MMP or MGLP are qualitatively indistinguishable from alkylated cyclodextrins both with respect to palmitoyl-CoA binding and with respect to effects on enzyme systems, suggesting that they form inclusion complexes of the same type. On the basis of model building it is postulated that MMP in solution assumes a helical conformation with a hydrophobic channel about 6 A in diameter and approximately 29 A long, dimensions appropriate for accommodating the paraffinic chain of palmitoyl-CoA in the form of an inclusion complex. Since palmitoyl-CoA binds to polysaccharide much more tightly than free palmitate it is further postulated that ionized groups of the CoA moiety of acyl CoA participate in the binding and do so by hydrogen bonding to the hydrophilic exterior of helical MMP. Palmitoyl-CoA, and to a lesser extent palmitate, affect the optical rotation of MMP and also of the alkylated cyclodextrins indicating that complex formation induces conformational changes in the polysaccharides.