Photooxidation of rabbit muscle glyceraIdehyde-3phosphate dehydrogenase in the presence of Rose Bengal specifically modified one histidine-38 residue per monomer and thereby inhibited the dehydrogenase, transferase, and esterase activities of this multifunctional enzyme. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate and NAD+ both provided partial protection against inactivation suggesting that photooxidation may occur in the vicinity of the active center. The mechanism of the inhibition has been studied by examining the catalytic steps in the various reactions. Photooxidation did not effect (1) the initial rate of oxidation of glyceraidehyde-3-phosphate to form the 5-acyl-enzyme intermediate, ( 2) the binding of the coenzyme NAD+, or (3) the S --N transfer of an acetyl group from the active-site cysteine-149 to lysine-183. Photooxidation did impair (1) the formation of the catalytically active 5-acetylenzyme intermediate with acetyl phosphate and (2) the deacetylation of the 5-acyl-enzyme complex by phosphorolysis, arsenolysis, or hydrolysis. The data indicate that the photooxidation of histidine-38 does not effect the initial oxidation step of the dehydrogenase reaction but rather the second transferase step whereby the acyl group is removed from the enzyme. The effects of photooxidation are compared to the effects of NAD+ and ATP on the active center.sing acetaldehyde as a model substrate, we have shown that the dehydrogenase reaction proceeded by a two-step mechanism (Harting and Velick, 1954a). First, the aldehyde was oxidized in the presence of the enzyme (ESH) and NAD+ to an 5-acetyl-enzyme. In the second step the acetyl group was transferred to inorganic phosphate to yield acetyl phosphate.Arsenate could substitute for phosphate to give an unstable acetyl arsenate which was hydrolyzed to acetic acid (Scheme I).In accordance with this mechanism we also demonstrated two transferase reactions which proceeded through the same acetyl-enzyme intermediate, namely, the 32P exchange and arsenolysis reactions (Harting and Velick, 1954b) (Scheme II).The enzyme is designated as ESH(NAd+) to indicate the requirements of the SH groups and NAD+ for these reactions (Harting and Velick, 1954b). The same mechanism and reactions are encountered with the biological substrate, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate.As a further extension of these studies, the enzyme was also found to have an esterase activity in which p-nitrophenyl acetate was hydrolyzed by a two-step mechanism (Park et al., 1961) involving the formation of the common S-acetyl-enzyme Scheme I: Dehydrogenase Reaction.