Mutation Report for: E84Q/E292A/D349N/E358Q/E389Q/D390N_human-ACHE

The effects of pressure on structure and activity of recombinant human acetylcholinesterase (rHuAChE) were investigated up to a pressure of 300 MPa using gel electrophoresis under elevated hydrostatic pressure, fluorescence of bound 8-anilinonaphthalene-1-sulfonate (ANS) and activity measurements following exposure to high pressure. Study of wild-type enzyme and three single mutants (D74N, E202Q, E450A) and one sextuple mutant (E84Q/E292A/D349N/E358Q/E389Q/D390N) showed that pressure exerts a differential action on wild-type rHuAChE and its mutants, allowing estimation of the contribution of carboxylic amino acid side-chains to enzyme stability. Mutation of negatively charged residues D74 and E202 by polar side-chains strengthened heat or pressure stability. The mutation E450A and the sextuple mutation caused destabilization of the enzyme to pressure. Thermal inactivation data on mutants showed that all of them were stabilized against temperature. In conclusion, pressure and thermal stability of mutants provided evidence that the residue E202 is a determinant of structural and functional stability of HuAChE.

Acetylcholinesterases (AChEs) are characterized by a high net negative charge and by an uneven surface charge distribution, giving rise to a negative electrostatic potential extending over most of the molecular surface. To evaluate the contribution of these electrostatic properties to the catalytic efficiency, 20 single- and multiple-site mutants of human AChE were generated by replacing up to seven acidic residues, vicinal to the rim of the active-center gorge (Glu84, Glu285, Glu292, Asp349, Glu358, Glu389 and Asp390), by neutral amino acids. Progressive simulated replacement of these charged residues results in a gradual decrease of the negative electrostatic potential which is essentially eliminated by neutralizing six or seven charges. In marked contrast to the shrinking of the electrostatic potential, the corresponding mutations had no significant effect on the apparent bimolecular rate constants of hydrolysis for charged and non-charged substrates, or on the Ki value for a charged active center inhibitor. Moreover, the kcat values for all 20 mutants are essentially identical to that of the wild type enzyme, and the apparent bimolecular rate constants show a moderate dependence on the ionic strength, which is invariant for all the enzymes examined. These findings suggest that the surface electrostatic properties of AChE do not contribute to the catalytic rate, that this rate is probably not diffusion-controlled and that long-range electrostatic interactions play no role in stabilization of the transition states of the catalytic process.