Use of primary deuterium and 15N isotope effects to deduce the relative rates of steps in the mechanisms of alanine and glutamate dehydrogenases

The authors have used deuterium and 15N isotope effects to study the relative rates of the steps in the mechanisms of alanine and glutamate dehydrogenases. The proposed chemical mechanisms for these enzymes involve carbinolamine formation, imine formation, and reduction of the imine to the amino acid. These steps are almost equally rate limiting for V/K/sub ammonia/ with alanine dehydrogenase, while with glutamate dehydrogenase carbinolamine formation, imine formation, and release of glutamate after hydride transfer provide most of the rate limitation of V/K/sub ammonia/. Release of oxidized nucleotide is largely rate limiting for V/sub max/ for both enzymes. When β-hydroxypyruvate replaces pyruvate, or 3-acetylpyridine NADH (Acpyr-NADH) or thio-NADH replaces NADH with alanine dehydrogenase, nucleotide release no longer limits V/sub max/, and hydride transfer becomes more rate limiting. With glutamate dehydrogenase, replacement of α-ketoglutarate by α-ketovalerate makes hydride transfer more rate limiting. Use of Acpyr-NADPH has a minimal effect with α-ketoglutarate but causes an 8-fold decrease in V/sub max/ with α-ketovalerate, with hydride transfer the major rate-limiting step. In contrast, thio-NADPH with either α-keto acid causes carbinolamide formation to become almost completely rate limiting. These studies show the power of multiple isotope effects in deducing details of the chemistry and changes in rate-limiting step(s) in complicated reaction mechanisms such as those of alanine and glutamate dehydrogenases