Identification of the highly reactive sulfhydryl group of pig kidney fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase at cysteine 128.

Fructose 1,6-bisphosphatases contain a highly reactive cysteine residue, the reactivity of which is influenced by ligands that bind at the catalytic and at the allosteric AMP sites of the enzyme. Nevertheless, the sulfhydryl group appears to be proximal to these sites and not a functional component of either. Modification of pig kidney fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase with three reagents, 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid), iodoacetamide, and phenacyl bromide, yields derivatives with similar properties, thus suggesting that the same residue was modified in each case. The modified enzymes exhibited: (a) higher Vmax when Mn2+ was used as the activating cation; (b) decreased activity in the presence of nonsaturating Mg2+ concentrations; (c) no change in sensitivity toward AMP inhibition. Automated Edman degradation of a tryptic peptide containing radioactive carboxamidomethylcysteine showed the sequence of residues Gly-111-Arg-140 of pig kidney fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase. The modified residue was shown to be cysteine-128, and the same cysteine residue was alkylated when the enzyme was reacted with phenacyl bromide. Cysteine-128 is also present in rat and sheep liver fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase and a long stretch of the sequence around this reactive cysteine residue is highly conserved.