Crystal structures at pH 4 of complexes of glucoamylase from Aspergillus awamori var. X100 with the pseudotetrasaccharides D-gluco-dihydroacarbose and acarbose have been refined to R-factors of 0.147 and 0.131 against data to 1.7- and 2.0-A resolution, respectively. The two inhibitors bind in nearly identical manners, each exhibiting a dual binding mode with respect to the location of the last sugar residues. The reduced affinity of D-gluco-dihydroacarbose (K1 = 10(-8) M) relative to acarbose (K1 = 10(-12) M) may stem in part from the weakening of hydrogen bonds of the catalytic water (Wat 500) to the enzyme. Steric contacts between the nonreducing end of D-gluco-dihydroacarbose and the catalytic water perturb Wat 500 from its site of optimal hydrogen bonding to the active site. Interactions within the active site displace the 6-hydroxymethyl group of the nonreducing end of both acarbose and D-gluco-dihydroacarbose toward a more axial position. In the case of D-gluco-dihydroacarbose the shift in the position of the 6-hydroxymethyl group occurs with a 12 degrees change in two dihedral angles of the glucopyranose ring toward a half-chair conformation. The observed conformational distortion of the first residue of D-gluco-dihydroacarbose is consistent with the generation of a glucopyranosyl cation in the transition state. Comparable distortions of stereochemistry in model compounds require approximately 2 kcal/mol, not more than 25% of the energy necessary to form the half-chair conformation in glucose. The magnitude of stereochemical distortion observed in the active site of glucoamylase suggests that favorable electrostatic interactions between the putative glucopyranosyl cation intermediate and the active site must be more important in stabilizing the transition state than mechanical distortion of the substrate.

Replacement of the catalytic base Glu400 by glutamine in glucoamylase from Aspergillus niger affects both substrates ground-state binding and transition-state stabilization. Compared to those of the wild-type enzyme, Km values for maltose and maltoheptaose are 12- and 3-fold higher for the Glu400-->Gln mutant, with kcat values 35- and 60-fold lower, respectively, for the same substrates. This unusually high residual activity for a glycosylase mutant at a putative catalytic group is tentatively explained by a reorganization of the hydrogen bond network, using the crystal structure of the related Aspergillus awamori var. X100 glucoamylase in complex with 1-deoxynojirimycin [Harris, E. M. S., Aleshin, A. E., Firsov, L. M., & Honzatko, R. B. (1993) Biochemistry 32, 1618-1626]. Supposedly Gln400 in the mutant hydrogen bonds to the invariant Tyr48, as does Glu400 in the wild-type enzyme. For Tyr48-->Trp A. niger glucoamylase kcat is reduced 80-100-fold, while Km is increased only 2-3-fold. Gln401 also hydrogen bonds to Glu400, but its mutation to glutamic acid has only a minor effect on activity. The Tyr48-->Trp and Glu400-->Gln glucoamylases share particular features in displaying unusually high activity below pH 4.0-which reflects lack of the wild-type catalytic base function- and unusually low binding affinity at subsite 2. Both mutants have lost 13-16 kJ mol-1 in transition-state stabilization energy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The crystal structure at pH 4 of the complex of glucoamylase 11(471) from Aspergiflus awamori var. Xl00 with the pseudotetrasaccharide u-g&o-dihydroaca$mse has been refined to an R-factor of 0.125 against data to 2.2 A resolution. The first two residues of the inhibitor bind at a position nearly identical to those of the closely related inhibitor acarbose in its complex with glucoamylase at pH 6. However, the electron density bifurcates beyond the second residue of the o-gkodihydroacarbose molecule, placing the third and fourth residues together at two positions in the active site. The position of relatively low density (estimated occupancy of 35%) corresponds to the location of the third and fourth residues of acarbose in its complex with glucoamylase at pH 6. The position of high density (65% occupancy) corresponds to a new binding mode of an extended inhibitor to the active site of glucoamylase. Presented are possible causes for the binding of o-gfuco-dihydroacarbose in two conformations at the active site of glucoamylase at pH 4.