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This review summarizes data on structure of muscle glycogen phosphorylase b and the role of the cofactor pyridoxal 5'-phosphate in catalysis and stabilizing the native conformation of the enzyme. Specific attention is paid to the stabilizing role of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate upon denaturation of phosphorylase b. Stability of holoenzyme, apoenzyme, and enzyme reduced by sodium borohydride is compared.

The kinetics of thermal aggregation of coat protein (CP) of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) have been studied at 42 and 52 degrees C in a wide range of protein concentrations, [P]0. The kinetics of aggregation were followed by monitoring the increase in the apparent absorbance (A) at 320 nm. At 52 degrees C the kinetic curves may be approximated by the exponential law in the range of TMV CP concentrations from 0.02 to 0.30 mg/ml, the first order rate constant being linearly proportional to [P]0 (50 mM phosphate buffer, pH 8.0). The analogous picture was observed at 42 degrees C in the range of TMV CP concentrations from 0.01 to 0.04 mg/ml (100 mM phosphate buffer, pH 8.0). At higher TMV CP concentrations the time of half-conversion approaches a limiting value with increasing [P]0 and at sufficiently high protein concentrations the kinetic curves fall on a common curve in the coordinates [A/A(lim); t] (t is time and A(lim) is the limiting value of A at t --infinity). According to a mechanism of aggregation of TMV CP proposed by the authors at rather low protein concentrations the rate of aggregation is limited by the stage of growth of aggregate, which proceeds as a reaction of the pseudo-first order, whereas at rather high protein concentrations the rate-limiting stage is the stage of protein molecule unfolding.

The experimental data on the kinetics of irreversible aggregation of proteins caused by exposure to elevated temperatures or the action of denaturing agents (guanidine hydrochloride, urea) have been analyzed. It was shown that the terminal phase of aggregation followed, as a rule, first order kinetics. For the kinetic curves registered by an increase in the apparent absorbance (A) in time (t) the methods of estimation of the corresponding kinetic parameters A(lim) and kI (A(lim) is the limiting value of A at t --infinity and kI is the rate constant of the first order) have been proposed. Cases are revealed when the reaction rate constant kI calculated from the kinetic curve of aggregation of the enzymes coincides with the rate constant for enzyme inactivation. Such a situation is interpreted as a case when the rate of aggregation is limited by the stage of denaturation of the enzyme. A conclusion has been made that, in order to establish the mechanism of protein aggregation, the kinetic investigations of aggregation should be carried out over a wide range of protein concentrations. The refolding experiments after denaturation of proteins by guanidine hydrochloride or urea have been also analyzed. It was shown that aggregation accompanying refolding follows first order kinetics at the final phase of the process. The model of protein refolding explaining such a kinetic regularity has been proposed. When aggregation of protein substrate follows first order kinetics, parameters A(lim) and kI may be used for the quantitative characterization of the chaperone-like activity in the test-systems based on suppression of protein aggregation.

Kinetic analysis of the glycogen chain growth reaction catalyzed by glycogen phosphorylase b from rabbit skeletal muscle has been carried out over a wide range of AMP concentration under the saturation of the enzyme by glycogen. Applicability of some variants of the kinetic model involving the interaction of AMP- and glucose 1-phosphate-binding sites in the dimeric enzyme molecule is considered. A kinetic model of the enzymatic reaction describing adequately the activation of the enzyme by AMP and inhibition at sufficiently high concentrations of AMP is proposed.

The kinetics of denaturation and aggregation of rabbit muscle glycogen phosphorylase b in the presence of guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl) have been studied. The curve of inactivation of phosphorylase b in time includes a region of the fast decline in the enzymatic activity, an intermediate plateau, and a part with subsequent decrease in the enzymatic activity. The fact that the shape of the inactivation curves is dependent on the enzyme concentration testifies to the dissociative mechanism of inactivation. The dissociation of phosphorylase b dimers into monomers in the presence of GuHCl is supported by sedimentation data. The rate of phosphorylase b aggregation in the presence of GuHCl rises as the denaturant concentration increases to 1.12 M; at higher concentration of GuHCl, suppression of aggregation occurs. At rather low concentration of the protein (0.25 mg/ml), the terminal phase of aggregation follows the kinetics of a monomolecular reaction (the reaction rate constant is equal to 0.082 min(-1); 1 M GuHCl, 25 degrees C). At higher concentration of phosphorylase b (0.75 mg/ml), aggregation proceeds as a trimolecular reaction.

An empirical equation that describes deviations from Michaelian kinetics is proposed. The equation allows the limiting values of the Michaelis constant at v/Vmax --0 and v/Vmax --1 to be estimated (v is the rate of the enzymatic reaction and Vmax is the limiting value of v at saturating concentrations of substrate). The applicability of the equation is demonstrated for kinetic data obtained for glutamate dehydrogenases from various sources (negative kinetic cooperativity for coenzyme) and for biosynthetic threonine deaminase from pea seedlings (sharper approaching the limiting value of the enzymatic reaction rate with increasing substrate concentration in comparison with the hyperbolic law). The negative cooperativity for the function of saturation of protein by ligand is also analyzed (data on binding of spin-labeled NAD, NADH, and NADPH by beef liver glutamate dehydrogenase and binding of cupric ions by BSA are used as examples).

Hydrolysis of N-trans-cynnamoylimidazole catalyzed by conjugates and complexes of alpha-chymotrypsin (ChT) with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) of different molecular mass (from 300 to 5000 daltons) was studied in the system of the hydrated reversed micelles of aerosol OT (AOT) in octane at 25 degrees C. The plot of the deacylation constant k3 for PEG--ChT conjugates and complexes versus the degree of hydration of reversed micelles (w0 = [H2O]/[AOT]) was studied. These plots are bell-shaped with maxima shifted to higher degrees of micelle hydration compared to the corresponding value of the shift for ChT. As for PEG--ChT conjugates, the value of the shift of w0 increases with increasing of molecular mass of the attached PEG and/or with the number of polymer chains per ChT molecule. Another picture was observed for PEG--ChT complexes for which the position of the maximum on k3 versusw0 curves was practically the same for all compounds. The values of the thickness of the polymer layer for PEG--ChT conjugates and complexes were calculated. Thus, polymer chains in conjugates placed in hydrated micelles are highly packed, whereas in the case of complexes they form a flat layer on the surface of the protein.

The mechanism of heat aggregation of proteins proposed by the author involves the stage of irreversible denaturation, the stage of nucleation, and the stage of growth of aggregates. It was shown that the initial parts of the kinetic curves of aggregation followed by monitoring the increase in absorbance (A) or intensity of light scattering (I) are linearized in coordinates (dA/dt; t) and (A; t2) (or, respectively, in coordinates (dI/dt; t) and (I; t2)). The slope of these linear anamorphoses is proportional to the product of the rate constant of irreversible denaturation and the rate constant of growth of aggregates. The mechanism of heat aggregation proposed is fulfilled for pig heart citrate synthase. The dI/dt versus t curves for heat aggregation of glycogen phosphorylase b from rabbit skeletal muscles display a lag period whose appearance is caused by intramolecular predenaturational changes in the enzyme molecule.

The thermostability of conjugates, non-covalent complexes and mixtures of alpha-chymotrypsin (alpha-ChT) with poly(alkylene oxides)--poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) with molecular mass of 1.9 kD and diblock copolymers of ethylene and propylene oxides (proxanols)--has been investigated. It was shown that the addition of PEG in concentration up to 2 wt. % to the solution of alpha-ChT did not affect the rate of the enzyme thermoinactivation. Meanwhile the addition of proxanol in the same concentration resulted in twofold decrease in the rate constant for the slow inactivation step, k2. Even more pronounced decrease in the thermoinactivation rate was observed for alpha-ChT--proxanol complexes obtained by heating or under the action of high pressure. The general tendency in the behavior of complexes of both types was the decrease in the k2 constant as the temperature or pressure used for complex preparation increased. The highest stabilizing effect was observed for complex obtained by heating up to 52 degreesC and containing maximal number of polymer chains (molar ratio proxanol/alpha-ChT was 10). For this complex fourfold decrease in the k2 value was observed. Covalent attachment of PEG or proxanol to enzyme gives maximal stabilizing effect with up to tenfold decrease in the k2 value. The investigation of the thermal denaturation kinetics of alpha-ChT and its adducts with poly(alkylene oxides) by means of fluorescence spectroscopy has shown that the presence of polymer chains practically does not affect the rate of protein denaturation registered by the decrease in the intensity of protein fluorescence. The polymer chains, probably, diminish the rate of melting of the active site-containing region of the protein molecule. At the same time, the overall denaturation rate is independent of the presence of polymer chains in the vicinity of the protein globule.

A new two-step procedure of protein refolding in vitro, proposed by Rozema and Gellman and named artificial chaperone-assisted refolding, is discussed. The new approach has been inspired by the two-step mechanism of the GroE system. In the first step, the protein is captured by a detergent under conditions that would normally lead to irreversible protein aggregation (heating or denaturant removal). In the second step, removal of detergent from the protein--detergent complex is triggered by addition of a cyclodextrin which is capable of forming "inclusion complexes" with detergent, allowing the protein to refold. The protein refolded with artificial chaperones (detergent and cyclodextrin) may be purified via a two-step protocol. After refolding was complete, the solution was passed through a 0. 22-micro(m) filter, to remove aggregated protein, and then through a M = 10 kD cutoff filter. The second filtration was intended to allow the low-molecular-weight artificial chaperones to pass, but to retain the refolded enzyme. The application of the above procedure for refolding of carbonic anhydrase B from human erythrocytes, hen egg white lysozyme, pig heart citrate synthase, and creatine kinase from rabbit skeletal muscles (MM isoenzyme) is discussed.

Denaturation of uridine phosphorylase from Escherichia coli K-12 by guanidine hydrochloride is accompanied by the displacement of the maximum in the protein fluorescence spectrum (lambda max) from 331 to 348 nm. The half-maximal change in the lambda max position is observed at 1.18 M guanidine hydrochloride. For this concentration of denaturant, the sedimentation pattern consists of two boundaries, one of which corresponds to the motion of the hexameric enzyme form (s20,w = 8.2 S) and other represents a monomer (s20,w = 2.6 S). In the presence of 2 M guanidine hydrochloride the enzyme moves as a monomer. The kinetics of inactivation of uridine phosphorylase by guanidine hydrochloride are complex (minima and maxima are observed on the kinetic curves). The initial rate of the enzyme reactivation after dilution of the enzyme preincubated with guanidine hydrochloride is second order with respect to protein. It is assumed that the rate of the reactivation process is limited by the reassociation of low-activity monomers into dimers followed by a rapid hexamer formation. The second-order rate constant for the reassociation of the enzyme is 3.0.10(4) M-1.sec-1 (50 mM borate buffer, pH 7.7, containing 100 mM inorganic phosphate; 20 degrees C). Thiol groups become accessible to titration by 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) after treatment of uridine phosphorylase with guanidine hydrochloride. Uridine and uracil inhibit the unfolding of the protein globule by guanidine hydrochloride.