Chemical modification of rabbit skeletal muscle phosphorylase kinase with phenylglyoxal.

Nonactivated phosphorylase kinase from rabbit skeletal muscle is inactivated by treatment with phenylglyoxal. Under mild reaction conditions, a derivative that retains 10-15% of the pH 8.2 catalytic activity is obtained. The kinetics of inactivation profile, differential effects of modification on pH 6.8 and 8.2 catalytic activities, and the insensitiveness of the modified enzyme to activation by ADP reveal that the 10-15% of catalytic activity remaining is very likely due to intrinsic catalytic activity of the derivative rather than to the presence of unmodified enzyme molecules. The kinetic results also suggest that the inactivation is correlatable with the reaction of one molecule of the reagent with the enzyme without any prior binding of phenylglyoxal. The phenylglyoxal modification reduces the autophosphorylation rate of the kinase. Autophosphorylated phosphorylase kinase is inactivated by phenylglyoxal at a much slower rate than the inactivation of nonactivated kinase. Thus, phenylglyoxal modification influences the phosphorylation and vice versa. The modified enzyme can be reactivated by treatment with trypsin or by dissociation using chatropic salts. The activity of the phenylglyoxal-modified enzyme after trypsin digestion or dissociation with LiBr reaches the same level as that of the native enzyme digested with trypsin or treated with LiBr under identical conditions. The results suggest that the effect of modification is overcome by dissociation of the subunits of phosphorylase kinase and that the catalytic site is not modified under conditions when 85% of the pH 8.2 catalytic activity is lost. Among various nucleotides and metal ions tested, only ADP, with or without Mg2+, afforded effective protection against inactivation with phenylglyoxal. At pH 6.8, 1 mM ADP afforded complete protection against inactivation. Experiments with 14C-labeled phenylglyoxal revealed that ADP seemingly protects one residue from modification. This result is in agreement with the kinetic result that the inactivation seemingly is due to reaction of one molecule of the reagent with the enzyme. The results confirm the existence of a high-affinity ADP binding site on nonactivated phosphorylase kinase and suggest the involvement of a functional arginyl residue at or near the ADP binding site in the regulation of of pH 8.2 catalytic activity of the enzyme.