Comparison of the energetics of the uncatalyzed and glutamate dehydrogenase catalyzed alpha-imino acid-alpha-amino acid interconversion.

The thermodynamic and activation parameters for the reduction of delta 1-pyrroline-2-carboxylic acid (an alpha-imino acid) by reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) are compared with those for the reduction of the same imino acid by the glutamate dehydrogenase-NADPH complex. The enthalpies of activation and standard free energy changes for these two reactions are found to be virtually the same. The catalysis by the enzyme, expressed as the ratio of the reactivity of the enzyme--NADPH complex to that of NADPH itself in reducing the iminium ion, is entirely accounted for by a more favorable entropy of activation with enzyme--NADPH as the reductant. This entropic driving force is large enough to overcome the exergonic formation of the binary complex and still lead to considerable catalysis by glutamate dehydrogenase. Comparison of delta S not equal to and delta So values for the reduction of the iminium ion by NADPH suggests that the solvation of the transition state resembles that of the reactants, even though the substituent effects on rate have shown that the hydride transfer from the reduced coenzyme is complete at the transition state [Srinivasan, R., Medary, R. T., Fisher, H. F., Norris, D. J., & Stewart, R. (1982) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 104, 807]. The delta Go and delta S not equal to/delta So values for the reduction by the enzyme--NADPH complex indicate that this reaction has a fairly symmetric transition state, the solvation properties of which are intermediate between those of the reactants and those of the products.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)