UDP-glucose sterol beta-D-glucosyltransferase, a plasma membrane-bound enzyme of plants: enzymatic properties and lipid dependence.

UDP-glucose sterol beta-D-glucosyltransferase (UDPG-SGTase) catalyzes the glucosylation of plant sterols. This enzyme has been shown to be membrane-bound, most of its activity being associated with plasma membrane in etiolated maize coleoptiles. After solubilization with detergents, total delipidation and purification, kinetic studies performed with a purified enzyme preparation in the presence of detergent and soybean phosphatidylcholine (PC) strongly suggest an ordered bi-bi mechanism for the glucosylation of sterols. A reduced sulfhydryl group and an arginyl residue were shown to be essential for activity. Lipid dependence studies have been performed on the delipidated enzyme in two systems: a micellar one composed of a mixture of enzyme, detergent and phospholipids and another one where the enzymatic activity was reconstituted in unilamellar lipid vesicles. In both systems it was shown that the UDPG-SGTase activity was stimulated to a large extent by negatively charged phospholipids. Enzymatic assays were performed with membrane fractions originating from plants whose sterol content was profoundly modified following treatment with a sterol biosynthesis inhibitor. Results showed that the sterol glucosylating activity was strongly inhibited in these fractions in accordance with sterol substrate specificity studies. All these results show that the UDPG-SGTase is exquisitely sensitive to its lipid environment. Physiological implications of these data are discussed in the light of the putative role of sterols in the plant cell.