The Michaelis-Menten-type kinetics of inactivation of horse-liver alcohol dehydrogenase with iodoacetate have been used t o study the binding of a number of known ligands. Adenine nucleotides protect competitively with iodoacetate as do halides and aromatic acids. Uncharged chelating-agents (orthophenanthroline, and 2,2'-bipyridyl) protect non-competitively. Uncharged monodentate ligands (e. g. imidazole) stimulate inactivation.The effect of imidazole on the binding of various ligands a t p H 7.4 and at pH 10 was studied.Multiple inhibition analysis was used to examine the mutual interaction of pairs of substances which protected the enzyme from iodoacetate. ADP-ribose and decanoate were mutually competitive, while AMP and orthophenanthroline were non-competitive. Increasing the ionic strength was found to affect differently the mutual interactions of pairs of anions, as well as to weaken their binding to the enzyme. I n some cases, kinetic studies of reduction of NAD+ were used to complement the inactivation studies.It is concluded that, in the coenzyme, the phosphate group nearer to adenosine is important for binding. Most, but not all, of the ligand-ligand interactions can be explained by steric or electrostatic effects ; it is tentatively suggested that conformational changes may also be involved.Precise interpretation, however, is complicated: there are two different types of zinc in the enzyme, and anions might bind to either, or neither.It has already been shown [1] that iodoacetate binds reversibly to horse-liver alcohol dehydrogenase, as well as inactivating it by alkylating two essential sulphydryl groups, i. e. one per subunit [2-41: a t ionic strength 0.1, various anions were found to protect the enzyme competitively with iodoacetate. I n this study, the work is extended to include nucleotides and zinc-binding agents known to bind to alcohol dehydrogenase. Multiple inhibition kinetics are used to examine the mutual effect of different pairs of ligands. Since these inactivation studies cannot be carried out satisfactorily a t pH 10 (in the absence of imidazole), substrate-kinetics studies are also used in some cases, to complement the inactivation studies.
MATERIALS AND METHODSHorse-liver alcohol dehydrogenase was purchased as a crystalline suspension from Boehringer Mann- Nucleotides were purchased from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, Mo.) or P-L Biochemicals (Milwaukee, Wis.). Imidazole was recrystallised as described previously [6]. 4-Biphenyl-carboxylic acid was purchased from Fluka AG (Buchs, Switzerland) and recrystallised from methanol and then methanol-water : melting point 223-225". Other chemicals were of reagent grade.Inactivations were always carried out a t 23.5", a t constant ionic strength, maintained by adding phosphate where necessary. At p H 10, glycine buffer was used, concentration approximately 20 mM in glycinate anion. With imidazole present, hydrolysis of iodoacetate (found previously, a t high pH [I]) was negligible, as inactivation experiments were usually completed comparati...