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Homotropic cooperativity in Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase results from the substrate-induced transition from the T to the R state. These two alternate states are stabilized by a series of interdomain and intersubunit interactions. The salt link between Lys-143 of the regulatory chain and Asp-236 of the catalytic chain is only observed in the T state. When Asp-236 is replaced by alanine the resulting enzyme exhibits full activity, enhanced affinity for aspartate, no cooperativity, and no heterotropic interactions. These characteristics are consistent with an enzyme locked in the functional R state. Using small angle x-ray scattering, the structural consequences of the D236A mutant were characterized. The unliganded D236A holoenzyme appears to be in a new structural state that is neither T, R, nor a mixture of T and R states. The structure of the native D236A holoenzyme is similar to that previously reported for another mutant holoenzyme (E239Q) that also lacks intersubunit interactions. A hybrid version of aspartate transcarbamoylase in which one catalytic subunit was wild-type and the other had the D236A mutation was also investigated. The hybrid holoenzyme, with three of the six possible interactions involving Asp-236, exhibited homotropic cooperativity, and heterotropic interactions consistent with an enzyme with both T and R functional states. Small angle x-ray scattering analysis of the unligated hybrid indicated that the enzyme was in a new structural state more similar to the T than to the R state of the wild-type enzyme. These data suggest that three of the six intersubunit interactions involving D236A are sufficient to stabilize a T-like state of the enzyme and allow for an allosteric transition.

A hybrid version of Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase was investigated in which one catalytic subunit has the wild-type sequence, and the other catalytic subunit has Glu-239 replaced by Gln. Since Glu-239 is involved in intersubunit interactions, this hybrid could be used to evaluate the extent to which T state stabilization is required for homotropic cooperativity and for heterotropic effects. Reconstitution of the hybrid holoenzyme (two different catalytic subunits with three wild-type regulatory subunits) was followed by separation of the mixture by anion-exchange chromatography. To make possible the resolution of the three holoenzyme species formed by the reconstitution, the charge of one of the catalytic subunits was altered by the addition of six aspartic acid residues to the C terminus of each of the catalytic chains (AT-C catalytic subunit). Control experiments indicated that the AT-C catalytic subunit as well as the holoenzyme formed with AT-C and wild-type regulatory subunits had essentially the same homotropic and heterotropic properties as the native catalytic subunit and holoenzyme, indicating that the addition of the aspartate tail did not influence the function of either enzyme. The control reconstituted holoenzyme, in which both catalytic subunits have Glu-239 replaced by Gln, exhibited no cooperativity, an enhanced affinity for aspartate, and essentially no heterotropic response identical to the enzyme isolated without reconstitution. The hybrid containing one normal and one mutant catalytic subunit exhibited homotropic cooperativity with a Hill coefficient of 1.4 and responded to the nucleotide effectors at about 50% of the level of the wild-type enzyme. Small angle x-ray scattering experiments with the hybrid enzyme indicated that in the absence of ligands it was structurally similar, but not identical, to the T state of the wild-type enzyme. In contrast to the wild-type enzyme, addition of carbamoyl phosphate induced a significant alteration in the scattering pattern, whereas the bisubstrate analog N-phosphonoacetyl-L-aspartate induced a significant change in the scattering pattern indicating the transition to the R-structural state. These data indicate that in the hybrid enzyme only three of the usual six interchain interactions involving Glu-239 are sufficient to stabilize the enzyme in a low affinity, low activity state and allow an allosteric transition to occur.