Diadenosine 5',5'''-P1, P4-tetraphosphate alpha, beta-phosphorylase from yeast supports nucleoside diphosphate-phosphate exchange.

Homogeneous diadenosine 5',5'''-P1,P4-tetraphosphate alpha, beta-phosphorylase (Ap4A-phosphorylase), the enzyme recently found in yeast (Guranowski, A., and Blanquet, S. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 3542-3547) catalyzes an exchange reaction between the beta-phosphate of nucleoside diphosphate (NDP) and orthophosphate from the medium (Pi). The common purine and pyrimidine ribonucleoside diphosphates as well as ADP analogs modified either in aglycone, sugar, or at the anhydride bond beta-position are substrates. The Km and rate values for the NDP-Pi exchange reaction were estimated at pH optima. These optima are 6.5 for UDP, 7.0 for ADP or CDP, and 8.0 for GDP. In the presence of 10 mM K2HPO4, 0.1 mM EDTA, and 100 mM Hepes/KOH (pH 7.0), the Km for ADP is 0.7 mM with a rate constant at saturating ADP of 96 s-1. The Km value for orthophosphate is 2 mM. In the NDP-Pi exchange reaction, phosphate can be substituted with arsenate and apparent arsenolysis of NDPs yields corresponding nucleoside monophosphates. The same pH optimum of 6.5 is found for arsenolysis of ADP, GDP, and CDP. Whereas the Ap4A phosphorylase sulfhydryl groups are essential for catalyzing the Ap4A phosphorolysis, the NDP-Pi exchange reactions, and the arsenolysis of NDPs, the divalent metal ions (Mg2+, Mn2+, Ca2+, Co2+, and Cd2+), which had been shown to be essential cofactors of the former reaction, are not required for the two latter ones. Used at concentrations which are optimum for Ap4A phosphorolysis, the cations (particularly Mg2+ and Cd2+) inhibit the NDP-Pi exchange and the arsenolysis of NDPs. Interestingly, the Ap4A phosphorylase exhibits higher specificity for adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (APS) than for any other NDP tested. The V/Km ratio is almost 5-fold higher with APS than with ADP. However, in the presence of orthophosphate, the APS is irreversibly converted to ADP. Thus, the enzyme displays a property already attributed to ADP-sulfurylase (EC 2.7.7.5), (Grunberg-Manago, M., Del Campillo-Campbell, A., Dondon, L., and Michelson, A. M. (1966) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 123, 1-16; Nicholls, R. G. (1977) Biochem. J. 165, 149-155).