期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1992
卷号:89
期号:3
页码:1100-1104
DOI:10.1073/pnas.89.3.1100
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Enzymes suspended in organic solvents represent a versatile system for studying the involvement of water in enzyme structure and function. Addition of less than 1% (vol/vol) water to tetrahydrofuran containing 1 M 1-propanol leads to a substantial increase in the transesterification activity of subtilisin Carlsberg (from Bacillus licheniformis) that correlates with a sharp increase in the active-site polarity and a 90% decrease in the rotational correlation time (i.e., increase in mobility) of a nitroxide spin label within the active site. Water in excess of 1% has little additional effect on active-site polarity and coincides with a further increase in spin-label mobility, yet the transesterification activity decreases dramatically. Thus, transesterification activity increases and then decreases with increasing enzyme hydration and flexibility (which are presumably coupled through dielectric screening), suggesting that the conformation of partially hydrated subtilisin is different from that of the nearly dry enzyme--i.e., enzyme containing less than 9% (wt/wt) water.