Pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase was purified to apparent homogeneity from bovine heart and kidney mitochondria. The phosphatase has a sedimentation coefficient (S20,w) of about 7.4 S and a molecular weight (Mr) of about 150 000 as determined by sedimentation equilibrium and by gel-permeation chromatography. The phosphatase consists of two subunits with molecular weights of about 97 000 and 50 000 as estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate--polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Phosphatase activity resides in the Mr 50 000 subunit, which is sensitive to proteolysis. The phosphatase contains approximately 1 mol of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) per mol of protein of Mr 150 000. FAD is apparently associated with the Mr 97 000 subunit. The function of this subunit remains to be established. The phosphatase binds 1 mol of Ca2+ per mol of enzyme of Mr 150 000 at pH 7.0, with a dissociation constant (Kd) of about 35 microM as determined by flow dialysis. Use of ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetate (EGTA) at pH 7.6 in conjunction with flow dialysis gave a Kd value for Ca2+ of about 8 microM. In the presence of both the phosphatase and the dihydrolipoyl transacetylase (E2) core of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, two equivalent and apparently non-interacting CA2+-binding sites were detected per unit of Mr 150 000, with a Kd value of about 24 microM in the absence and about 5 microM in the presence of EGTA. In the presence of 0.2 M KCl, which inhibits phosphatase activity about 95%, the phosphatase exhibited only one Ca2+-binding site, even in the presence of E2. The phosphatase apparently possesses an "intrinsic" Ca2+-binding site, and a second Ca2+-binding site is produced in the presence of E2. The second site is apparently altered by increasing the ionic strength. It is proposed that the second site may be at the interface between the phosphatase and E2, with Ca2+ acting as a bridging ligand for specific attachment of the phosphatase to E2.

Binding of pyruvate dehydrogenase (E1) and dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3) to the isolated dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (E2) core of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex from bovine heart and kidney was investigated with equilibrium, competitive binding, and kinetic methods. E2, which consists of 60 subunits arranged with icosahedral 532 symmetry, apparently possesses six equivalent, noninteracting binding sites for E3 dimers. It is proposed that each E3 dimer extends across 2 of the 12 faces of the E2 pentagonal dodecahedron. The equilibrium constant (Kd) for dissociation of E3 from E2 is about 3 nM, and the dissociation rate constant is about 0.057 min-1. For E1, Kd is about 13 nM, and the dissociation rate constant is about 0.043 min-1. Extensive phosphorylation of E1 (about three phosphoryl groups per E1 tetramer) increases Kd to about 40 nM.

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