Evidence for an essential hydrophobic domain in the maintenance of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity. Site-specific binding and inactivation by 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate.

1-Anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate (ANS) binds to phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase with subsequent rapid inactivation. Kinetics are saturating, with an enzyme half-life of 0.29 min at 4 x 10(-4) M ANS. IDP, GDP, and phosphoenolpyruvate protect against the inactivation. The enzyme is not covalently modified and it retains an affinity for protecting substrates and substrate analogs, with the exception of oxalate. Binding of ANS occurs in a hydrophobic environment, as suggested by the changes in fluorescence emission, and is markedly pH-dependent, leading to more rapid inactivation at acid pH. Inactivation by ANS differs in this respect from inactivation by N-(iodoacetylaminoethyl)-5-naphthylamine-1-sulfonate which affinity labels the enzyme (Silverstein, R., Rawitch, A.B., and Grainger, D.A. (1979) Biochem. Biophys. Res Commun. 87, 911-918). Though the mechanism by which ANS inactivates the enzyme is unclear, the effect is atypical in that ANS binding does not normally lead to irreversible inactivation.