Inactivation and disassembly of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex from bovine kidney by limited proteolysis with an enzyme from rat liver.

Mammalian pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex is inactivated when treated with a leupeptin-sensitive enzyme (termed 'inactivase') obtained from rat liver lysosomes. However, the inactivation of the overall reaction does not affect any of the component activities of the enzyme complex. By several methods it is demonstrated that treatment with the inactivase provokes the disassembly of the complex into its constituent enzyme components which, though being enzymatically active when assayed separately, are unable to catalyze the coordinated reaction sequence of pyruvate oxidation. The dissociation occurs as a consequence of limited proteolysis of the lipoate acetyltransferase core of the multienzyme complex. Isolated nicked acetyltransferase retains its complete enzymatic activity and behaves as a high-molecular-weight aggregate. The lipoamide dehydrogenase and pyruvate dehydrogenase components, however, are not cleaved by the inactivase.