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Co3+ and Cr3+ complexes of beta, gamma-methylene-ATP (AMPPCP), which are substitution-inert substrate analogues inactive in phosphoryl transfer reactions, have been used in binding and structural studies of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Dissociation constants of enzyme complexes with Co(NH3)4AMPPCP and CrAMPPCP and with Mn2+, which binds at an inhibitory site, were determined by electron paramagnetic resonance and by proton relaxation rate enhancement techniques. Nuclear relaxation rate measurements at 100 and 360 MHz were used to determine the distance between Mn2+ and the beta, gamma-methylene protons of Co-(NH3)4AMPPCP, yielding 7.4 +/- 0.6 A in the absence of enzyme and 5.0 +/- 0.9 A when both Mn2+ and Co-(NH3)4AMPPCP were bound to the enzyme. The effect of the paramagnetic CrAMPPCP on the electron spin relaxation time of the enzyme-bound Mn2+ was used used to calculate the distance between the two metal ions of 4.8 +/- 0.4 A. This distance and the Mn2+-methylene distance are consistent with the previous finding that the inhibitory metal bridges the enzyme to the triphosphate chain of the enzyme-bound nucleotide [Granot, J., Kondo, H., Armstrong, R. M., Mildvan, A. S., & Kaiser, E. T. (1979) Biochemistry 18, 2339]. From the paramagnetic effects on the relaxation rates of the protons of the peptide substrate Leu-Arg-Arg-Ala-Ser-Leu-Gly, distances from Mn2+ and Cr3+ to the serine methylene protons of 9.1 +/- 0.9 and 8.1 +/- 0.8 A, respectively, were calculated. These and previous measurements were used to estimate a distance of 5.3 +/- 0.7 A along the reaction coordinate between the gamma-phosphorus of ATP and the serine hydroxyl oxygen. This distance is 2 A greater than that required for molecular contact. The mechanistic implications of these findings are discussed.

17 beta-(N-tert-butylcarbamoyl)-4-aza-5 alpha-androstan-1-en-3-one (finasteride), which has been approved for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, is shown here to be a slow time-dependent inhibitor of human steroid 5 alpha-reductase isozyme 1. This inhibition is characterized by an initial, fast step where the inhibitor binds to the enzyme followed by a slow step that leads to a final enzyme-inhibitor complex (EI*). No recovery of activity from this EI* complex was observed after dialysis for 3 days. The formation of EI* is diminished in the presence of a competitive, reversible inhibitor, indicating that the inhibition is active site-directed. At 37 degrees C and pH 7.0, the rate constant for the second, slow inhibition step, k3, is (1.40 +/- 0.04) x 10(-3) s-1 and the pseudo-bimolecular rate constant, k3/Ki, is (4.0 +/- 0.3) x 10(3) M-1 s-1. This latter rate constant is less than the value of 2.7 x 10(5) M-1 s-1 determined for the inhibition of 5 alpha-reductase 2 by finasteride [Faller, B., Farley, D., & Nick, H. (1993) Biochemistry 32, 5705-5710].(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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In the previous paper, N-methylated peptides were shown to be sensitive probes of substrate conformation within the adenosine cyclic 3',5'-phosphate dependent protein kinase (A-kinase) active site. While it has been shown that other protein kinases will catalyze the phosphorylation of the same peptide sequences as A-kinase, there is as yet little information as to whether the protein kinases differentiate between substrates on the basis of conformation. For this reason, the conformationally restricted N-methylated peptides were used to probe the active site of guanosine cyclic 3',5'-phosphate dependent protein kinase (G-kinase), which is homologous in sequence to [Takio, K., Wade, R. D., Smith, S. B., Krebs, E. G., Walsh, K. A., & Titani, K. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 4207-4218] and which has substrate specificities similar to [Lincoln, T. M., & Corbin, J. D. (1977) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 3239-3243] those of A-kinase. Although this enzyme appears to bind the peptides in a conformation resembling that of conformation A, it is more able to accommodate backbone methylation than is A-kinase. A peptide substrate at least 700-fold selective for G-kinase over A-kinase was found. Backbone methylation may, therefore, represent a way of making peptide substrates and inhibitors selective for a particular kinase.

Studies utilizing NMR spectroscopy have shown that adenosine cyclic 3',5'-phosphate dependent protein kinase (A-kinase) probably binds Leu-Arg-Arg-Ala-Ser-Leu-Gly (peptide 1) in one of two extended coil conformations (A or B). The relative reactivities of a series of N-methylated peptides based on the structure of peptide 1 might, therefore, be related to how well each can assume the A or B conformation. From estimates of the magnitude of steric interactions that would be induced by N-methylation of an amide in peptide 1 that is locked in either conformation, the ability of each peptide to form that conformation was predicted. The ability of A-kinase to catalyze phosphorylation of the N-methylated peptides correlated well with the ability of each peptide to form conformation A, but not conformation B. In accord with these findings, the reactivity of an unreactive N-methylated peptide was partially restored by a second change, which allowed the peptide to assume conformation A. These results suggest that, when bound in the enzymatic active site, peptide 1 has a conformation that resembles structure A much more closely than structure B.

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