There
is growing interest in using isothermal titration calorimetry
(ITC) to characterize enzyme kinetics by measuring the heat produced
or absorbed by catalysis in real time. Since virtually all chemical
reactions are associated with changes in enthalpy, ITC represents
a robust and nearly universal experimental approach. Nevertheless,
there are technical challenges that limit ITC’s applicability.
For instance, the full kinetic characterization of enzymes with two
substrates (bi-substrate enzymes), which comprise the majority of
known examples, requires a series of experiments to be performed as
the concentrations of both substrates are varied. This is a time-consuming
and expensive process using current ITC methods since many (>5)
individual
experiments must be performed independently to obtain a sufficient
quantity of data. We have developed a new ITC method, which we term
2D-ITC, which maps the reaction velocity as a function of two substrate
concentrations in a single, roughly 2 h long experiment. This method
provides a level of detail that rivals or exceeds any existing enzyme
assay, as a single experiment generates on the order of 7000 catalytic
rate measurements. In a proof-of-principle application to rabbit muscle
pyruvate kinase (rMPK), the method correctly identified the enzyme’s
random sequential mechanism and allosteric catalytic suppression by
the amino acid phenylalanine (Phe). Unexpectedly, we found that while
Phe reduces affinity for the substrate phosphoenolpyruvate, a known
phenomenon, it also alleviates inhibition by the reaction product
ATP, which had not been reported previously. Given the relative abundance
of ATP in the cell, this opposing effect is expected to have a substantial
impact on rMPK activity.