Reductive half-reaction of medium-chain fatty acyl-CoA dehydrogenase utilizing octanoyl-CoA/octenoyl-CoA as a physiological substrate/product pair: similarity in the microscopic pathways of octanoyl-CoA oxidation and octenoyl-CoA binding.

Of the different chain length fatty acyl-CoA substrates, octanoyl-CoA has been known as one of the most efficient (and physiological) substrates for the medium-chain fatty acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD)-catalyzed reaction. The reaction of MCAD-FAD with octanoyl-CoA ([MCAD-FAD] << [octanoyl-CoA]), measured via the stopped-flow technique, at 5 degrees C was characterized by a biphasic decrease and increase in absorptions at 450 and 545 nm, respectively. The average values of the fast (1/tau 1) and slow (1/tau 2) relaxation rate constants, derived from the data at these wavelengths, were found to be 319.7 +/- 33.5 and 28.8 +/- 12.5 s-1, respectively, and both of these relaxation rate constants remained invariant between 8 and 200 microM concentrations of octanoyl-CoA. Under identical experimental conditions, we measured time courses for the interaction of MCAD-FAD with octenoyl-CoA ([MCAD-FAD] << [octenoyl-CoA]) by monitoring the absorption changes at 299, 394, and 440 nm. The binding profile was consistent with a biphasic decrease (at 440 nm) and increase (at 299 and 394 nm) in absorbance, with similar magnitudes of fast [1/tau 1 (average) = 382.3 +/- 39.8 s-1] and slow [1/tau 2 (average) = 14.3 +/- 7.4 s-1] relaxation rate constants. The observed relaxation rate constants were, once again, found to be invariant with changes in the octenoyl-CoA concentration from 40 to 150 microM.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)