Introduction of a C-terminal aromatic sequence from snake venom phospholipases A2 into the porcine pancreatic isozyme dramatically changes the interfacial kinetics.

Porcine pancreatic phospholipase A2 (PLA2) was modified by single and multiple site-directed mutations at sites thought to be involved in interfacial binding. Charged and polar residues in the C-terminal region were replaced by aromatic residues on the basis of an analogy with snake venom PLA2s, which display high affinity for a zwitterionic interface. The PLA2 variants constructed were N117W, N117W/D119Y and K116Y/N117W/D119Y. Titration with micelles of a zwitterionic substrate suggests that the variants N117W and K116Y/N117W/D119Y possess improved ability to bind to the micellar substrate interface, relative to the wild-type enzyme. Improved interfacial binding was confirmed by direct binding studies with micelles of a zwitterionic substrate analogue, indicating up to five times higher affinity for both variants. Interfacial binding is not improved for the variant N117W/D119Y. Maximal enzyme velocities (Vapp./max) with the zwitterionic substrate were between 25 and 75% of that of the wild-type enzyme. However, competitive inhibition and direct binding studies with a strong inhibitor revealed that the affinity for substrate present at the interface (Km*) is perturbed by the mutations made. For the variant N117W, the slight decrease observed in Vapp./max is most likely made up of a 24-fold reduction in catalytic turnover (kcat) and 18-fold improved substrate binding (Km*).