Chemical modifications of a cysteinyl residue introduced in the binding site of carboxypeptidase Y by site-directed mutagenesis.

It is demonstrated that site-directed mutagenesis successfully can be combined with chemical modification creating enzyme derivatives with altered properties. A methionyl residue located in the S1' binding site of carboxypeptidase Y was replaced by a cysteinyl residue and the mutant enzyme was isolated and modified with various alkylating and thioalkylating reagents. Treatment of the mutant carboxypeptidase Y with bulky reagents like phenacyl bromide and benzyl methanethiolsulfonate caused a drastic reduction in the activity towards substrates with bulky leaving groups in the P1' position, i.e. -OBzl, -Val-NH2 and amino acids (except -Gly-OH), while substrates with small groups in that position, i.e. -OMe and -NH2, were hydrolysed with increased rates. The presence of a positive charge, in addition to a bulky group, had a further adverse effect on the activity towards substrates with large leaving groups, whereas the activity towards those with small leaving groups remained unaffected by such a group. The derivatives obtained by modification of the mutant enzyme with benzyl methanethiolsulfonate and methyl methanethiolsulfonate were effective in deamidations of peptide amides and peptide synthesis reactions, respectively.