Metal Ion Interactions with Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase from Crassula argentea and Zea mays

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Abstract
Metal ion interactions with phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase from the CAM plant Crassula argentea and the C4 plant Zea mays were kinetically analyzed. Fe2+ and Cd2+ were found to be active metal cofactors along with the previously known active metals Mg2+, Mn2+, and Co2+. In studies with the Crassula enzyme, Mg2+ yielded the highest Vmax value but also generated the highest values of Km(metal) and Km(pep). For these five active metals lower Km(metal) values tended to be associated with lower Km(pep) values. PEP saturation curves showed more kinetic cooperativity than the corresponding metal saturation curves. The activating metal ions all have ionic radii in the range of 0.86 to 1.09 Å. Ca2+, Sr2+, Ba2+, and Ni2+ inhibited competitively with respect to Mg2+, whereas Be2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, and Pd2+ showed mixed-type inhibition. Vmax trends with the five active metals were similar for the C. argentea and Z. mays enzymes except that Cd2+ was less effective with the maize enzyme. Km(metal) values were 10- to 60-fold higher in the enzyme from Z. mays.