Rates of ligand binding to periplasmic proteins involved in bacterial transport and chemotaxis.

The ligand reactions of three binding proteins involved in bacterial transport and chemotaxis have been examined by stopped flow, rapid mixing techniques. The processes measured were: L-arabinose, D-galactose, and D-fucose binding to the Escherichia coli L-arabinose-binding protein; L-histidine binding to the Salmonella typhimurium L-histidine-binding protein; and D-maltose, maltotriose, cyclic maltohexaose, and cyclic maltoheptaose binding to the E. coli D-maltose-binding protein. Changes in tryptophan fluorescence were monitored, and the resultant time courses were analyzed quantitatively in terms of a simple one-step binding process. The fitted association rate constants for sugar binding are all about 1-3 X 10(7) M-1 s-1; variation in the affinity constants is expressed primarily by changes in the dissociation rate constants, 1-100 s-1. The sugar-binding proteins react at equal rates with the alpha and beta anomeric forms of their substrates. The ligand dissociation rates measured in vitro are consistent with the corresponding Vmax values observed for in vivo active transport. The association rate constant for the L-histidine-binding protein is 5-10 times greater than the corresponding rate constants for the sugar-binding proteins. A similar, large bimolecular rate, approximately 1 X 10(8) M-1 s-1, has been observed for the E. coli L-glutamine-binding protein (Weiner, J. H., and Heppel, L. A. (1971) J. Biol. Chem. 246, 6933-6941) and appears to reflect favorable electrostatic interactions between the charged amino acid and the surface of the protein molecule.