Is pyridoxal 5'-phosphate an affinity label for phosphate-binding sites in proteins?: The case of bovine glutamate dehydrogenase.

The effects of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PalP) on ox liver glutamate dehydrogenase (94% inactivation by 1.8 mM reagent at pH 7 and 25 degrees C) have been compared with those of three analogues, 5'-deoxypyridoxal (96% inactivation), pyridoxal 5'-sulphate (97%) and pyridoxal 5-methylsulphonate (94%), in order to establish whether PalP acts as an affinity label for this enzyme. Like PalP and unlike pyridoxal, which is a much less potent inactivator, none of the analogues has a free 5'-OH group to cyclize with the aldehyde function. The result with 5'-deoxypyridoxal shows that a negative charge, such as that of the phosphate group, is not required for efficient inactivation. With all four reagents, addition of an excess of cysteine or lysine led to 90-100% re-activation over 3-20 h. Dialysis also caused reactivation to a similar extent. A combination of 2.15 mM NADH, 1 mM GTP and 10 mM 2-oxoglutarate gave complete protection against PalP, but only partial protection against the analogues. 5'-Deoxypyridoxal still caused 20-25% inactivation in the presence of the protection mixture. Absorbance measurements after reduction with NaBH4 show the characteristic features of a reduced Schiff's base and allowed estimation of the extent of reaction. With all the reagents the protection mixture decreased incorporation by about 1 mol/mol, but levels of incorporation without protection varied from about 2 mol/mol for PalP up to about 5 mol/mol for 5'-deoxypyridoxal. The labelling at additional sites may explain the residual inactivation in the presence of potent protecting agents.