Enzymatic synthesis of polymethylated flavonols in Chrysosplenium americanum. II. Substrate interaction and product inhibition studies of flavonol 3-, 6-, and 4'-O-methyltransferases.

The steady-state kinetic behavior of three position-specific O-methyltransferases (3-, 4'-, and 6-OMTs) was compared with reference to substrate inhibition patterns in Chrysosplenium americanum. The 6-OMT was severely inhibited by the flavonoid substrate at concentrations close to Km, whereas the other two enzymes were less affected by their respective flavonoid substrates. Substrate interaction kinetics for the 6-OMT gave converging lines consistent with a sequential binding mechanism, whereas the data generated for the 3- and 4'-OMTs could be fitted to the equation for a ping-pong mechanism or to that of a sequential binding mechanism where Kia was much smaller Ka. More information on the mechanism of reaction was obtained from product inhibition studies. The three enzymes exhibited competitive inhibition patterns between S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) and S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine (SAH), whereas other patterns were either noncompetitive or uncompetitive. The steady-state kinetic properties of the 3-, 4'-, and 6-OMTs were consistent with a sequential ordered reaction mechanism, in which SAM and SAH were leading reaction partners and included an abortive EQB complex. Product inhibition constants were sufficiently low to suggest that these may be important in regulating the pathway of polymethylated flavonoid synthesis. It was suggested that due to their greater sensitivity to inhibition by SAH, the OMTs involved in earlier steps of the methylation sequence may regulate the rate of synthesis of final products in Chrysosplenium.