Amino acid substitutions at the subunit interface of dimeric Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase cause reduced structural stability.

The consequences of amino acid substitutions at the dimer interface for the strength of the interactions between the monomers and for the catalytic function of the dimeric enzyme alkaline phosphatase from Escherichia coli have been investigated. The altered enzymes R10A, R10K, R24A, R24K, T59A, and R10A/R24A, which have amino acid substitutions at the dimer interface, were characterized using kinetic assays, ultracentrifugation, and transverse urea gradient gel electrophoresis. The kinetic data for the wild-type and altered alkaline phosphatases show comparable catalytic behavior with k(cat) values between 51.3 and 69.5 s(-1) and Km values between 14.8 and 26.3 microM. The ultracentrifugation profiles indicate that the wild-type enzyme is more stable than all the interface-modified enzymes. The wild-type enzyme is dimeric in the pH range of pH 4.0 and above, and disassembled at pH 3.5 and below. All the interface-modified enzymes, however, are apparently monomeric at pH 4.0, begin assembly at pH 5.0, and are not fully assembled into the dimeric form until pH 6.0. The results from transverse urea gradient gel electrophoresis show clear and reproducible differences both in the position and the shape of the unfolding patterns; all these modified enzymes are more sensitive to the denaturant and begin to unfold at urea concentrations between 1.0 and 1.5 M; the wild-type enzyme remains in the folded high mobility form beyond 2.5 M urea. Alkaline phosphatase H370A, modified at the active site and not at the dimer interface, resembles the wild-type enzyme both in ultracentrifugation and electrophoresis studies. The results obtained suggest that substitution of a single amino acid at the interface sacrifices not only the integrity of the assembled dimer, but also the stability of the monomer fold, even though the activity of the enzyme at optimal pH remains unaffected and does not appear to depend on interface stability.