Elementary steps in the reaction of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex from pig heart

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Abstract
In the progress curve of the reaction of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, a lag phase was observed when the concentration of thiamin diphosphate was lower than usual (about 0.2–1 mM) in the enzyme assay. The length of the lag phase was dependent on thiamin diphosphate concentration, ranging from 0.2 min to 2 min as the thiamin diphosphate concentration varied from 800 nM to 22 nM. The lag phase was also observed in the elementary steps catalyzed by the pyruvate dehydrogenase component. A Km value of 107 nM was found for thiamin diphosphate with respect to the steady‐state reaction rate following the lag phase. The pre‐steady‐state kinetic data indicate that the resulting lag phase was the consequence of a slow holoenzyme formation from apoenzyme and thiamin diphosphate. The thiamin diphosphate can bind to the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in the absence of pyruvate, but the presence of 2 mM pyruvate increases the rate constant of binding from 1.4 × 104 M−1s−1 to 1.3 × 105 M−1s−1 and decreases the rate constant of dissociation from 2.3 × 10−2s−1 to 4.1 × 10−3s−1. On the other hand, the effect of pyruvate on the thiamin diphosphate binding revealed the existence of a thiamin‐diphosphate‐independent pyruvate‐binding site in the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. Direct evidence was also obtained with fluorescence techniques for the existence of this binding site and the dissociation constant of pyruvate was found to be 0.38 mM. On the basis of these data we have proposed a random mechanism for the binding of pyruvate and thiamin diphosphate to the complex. Binding of substrates to the enzyme complex caused an increase in the fluorescence of the dansylaziridine‐labelled pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, showing that binding of substrates to the complex is accompanied by structural changes.

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