Steady-state kinetic analysis of isocitrate lyase from Lupinus seeds: considerations on a possible catalytic mechanism of isocitrate lyase from plants.

Isocitrate lyase catalyzes the reversible cleavage of isocitrate into glyoxylate and succinate. The kinetic mechanism of bacterial isocitrate lyase has been reported to be ordered uni-bi. Moreover, it has been proposed that isocitrate lyase in higher plants may be switched on and off by a succinylation/desuccinylation mechanism. Similarly to bacterial citrate lyase, in which an acetylation/deacetylation mechanism is operative, succinylation might also play a role in the catalytic mechanism of plant isocitrate lyase. We have investigated the kinetic mechanism of isocitrate lyase from Lupinus seeds. The results reported in this paper show that the system follows a preferentially ordered uni-bi pathway in which the succinate is released first. On the basis of our results and some other recently reported data, we conclude that it is unlikely that bacterial and plant isocitrate lyases have different catalytic mechanisms.