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The pH-dependence of sulphate-activated phosphorylase b has been studied in the direction of glycogen synthesis. The bell-shaped curve of the pH-dependence of the catalytic constant for the AMP-activated enzyme showed pK values of 6.1 and 7.3, but the curve for the enzyme activated by 0.9 M ammonium sulphate showed a drop of activity on the acid side at much higher pH values. Its bell was centred at pH 7.8 but it was too narrow to be characterized by only two pK values. The narrowness of the curve could be explained by positive co-operativity, but not its unusually steep acid side. We suggest that the fall on the acid side is due to more than one hydronation (addition of H+). The points can be fitted by a curve with two de-activating hydronations and a de-activating dehydronation having identical titration pK values of 7.5, and hence molecular values of 7.0, 7.5 and 8.0. If both 0.9 M ammonium sulphate and 5 mM AMP are added, the bell is as broad as with AMP alone, but is somewhat raised in pH optimum. The results are discussed in the light of new structural data from crystallographic studies on binary complexes of the enzyme.

The ionization state of the substrate alpha-D-glucopyranosyl phosphate bound at the active site of glycogen phosphorylase has been probed by a number of techniques. Values of Ki determined for a series of substrate analogue inhibitors in which the phosphate moiety bears differing charges suggest that the enzyme will bind both the monoanionic and dianionic substrates with approximately equal affinity. These results are strongly supported by 31P- and 19F-NMR studies of the bound substrate analogues alpha-D-glucopyranosyl 1-methylenephosphonate and 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl phosphate, which also suggest that the substrate can be bound in either ionization state. The pH-dependences of the inhibition constants K1 for these two analogues, which have substantially different phosphate pK2 values (7.3 and 5.9 respectively), are found to be essentially identical with the pH-dependence of K(m) values for the substrate, inhibition decreasing according to an apparent pKa value of 7.2. This again indicates that there is no specificity for monoanion or dianion binding and also reveals that binding is associated with the uptake of a proton. As the bound substrate is not protonated, this proton must be taken up by the proton.

The study by two-dimensional phase-sensitive 31P exchange spectroscopy (EXSY) n.m.r. of hexose 6-phosphates interconversion in the reaction catalysed by yeast phosphoglucoisomerase reveals that the enzyme displays anomeric selectivity, rather than specificity, towards alpha-D-glucose 6-phosphate. Indeed, beta-D-glucose 6-phosphate participates for about 20% to the total and direct conversion of the aldohexose into oxohexose ester.