Alpha-glucan, water dikinase (GWD): a plastidic enzyme with redox-regulated and coordinated catalytic activity and binding affinity.

The recently discovered potato tuber (Solanum tuberosum) alpha-glucan, water dikinase (GWD) (formerly known as R1) catalyzes the phosphorylation of starch by a dikinase-type reaction mechanism in which the beta-phosphate of ATP is transferred to either the C-6 or the C-3 position of the glucosyl residue of starch. In the present study, we found that the GWD enzyme is inactive in the oxidized form, which is accompanied by the formation of a specific intramolecular disulfide bond as determined by disulfide-linked peptide mapping. The regulatory properties of this disulfide linkage were confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis studies. Both reduced thioredoxin (Trx) f and Trx m from spinach leaves reduced and activated oxidized GWD at very low concentrations, with Trx f being the more efficient, yielding an S0.5 value of 0.4 microM. Interestingly, GWD displays a reversible and selective binding to starch granules depending on the illumination state of the plant. Here we show that starch granule-bound GWD isolated from dark-adapted plants exists in the inactive, oxidized form, which is capable of reactivation upon treatment with reduced Trx. Furthermore, the soluble form of GWD was found in its fully reduced state, providing evidence of a Trx-controlled regulation mechanism linking enzymatic activity and specific binding affinities of a protein to an intracellular surface. The regulatory site sequence, CFATC, of potato GWD is conserved in chloroplast-targeted GWDs from other species, suggesting an overall redox regulation of the GWD enzyme.