On the mechanism of divalent metal ion chelator induced activation of the 7S nerve growth factor esteropeptidase. Activation by 2,2',2''-terpyridine and by 8-hydroxyquinoline 5-sulfonic acid.

Our previous studies (Pattison, S. E., and Dunn, M. F. (1975), Biochemistry 14, 2733) have shown that the reaction of divalent metal ion chelators with the 140 000 mol wt mouse submaxillary nerve growth factor protein (7S NGF) activates the iota-subunit esteropeptidase activity ca. sevenfold. Ultraviolet-visible spectral studies with the chelator 2,2',2''-terpyridine (terpyridine) and fluorescence emission studies with 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid (HQSA) in combination with both conventional and rapid-mixing stopped-flow kinetic techniques have been employed in the present study to investigate (a) the mechanism of the chelator-induced activation process, and (b) the identity of the divalent metal ion involved. The spectral studies confirm the presence of stoichiometrically significant amounts of tightly bound zinc ion in native 7S NGF (1-2 g-atoms of An2+/mol of 7S NGF). The kinetic studies show that the reaction of terpyridine with 7S NGF occurs via a two-step process involving first a rapid, apparent second-order step (k1 = 1 x 10(6) M-1 s-1) to form a 7S NGF-Zn2+-chelator monocomplex, then a slow step to form a bis(terpyridine)-Zn(II) complex and activated 7S NGF in an apparent first-order process (kobsd = 0.10 min-1). This rate is, within experimental error, identical with the apparent first-order rate constant for the chelator-induced activation process (monitored by the rate of change in the steady-state rate of hydrolysis of chromophoric substrate, alpha-N-benzoyl-D,L-arginine-p-nitroanilide). Kinetic studies of the reaction of HQSA with native 7S NGF show that, under the same conditions of concentration, the rate of formation of the tris(HQSA)-Zn(II) complex is identical with the rate of the HQSA-induced activation of the 7S NGF esteropeptidase. Thus, these studies unambiguously establish that zinc ion is the metal ion involved in the chelator-induced activation process, and that activation involves removal of zinc ion from native 7S NGF.