J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 260, Issue 6, 3613-3616, 03, 1985
The role of enzyme sequestration in the regulation of the adenylate cyclase of Dictyostelium discoideum
H Padh and M Brenner
Although the adenylate cyclase of Dictyostelium discoideum cannot be
activated by its cAMP agonist in vitro, its in vivo activation can be
demonstrated by rapidly breaking and assaying the cells, over 10-fold
higher activity being observed for stimulated cells than for basal cells.
We report here that when basal cells are broken in the presence of labeled
ATP and then rapidly assayed, they display 8-fold more adenylate cyclase
activity than cells broken in the presence of unlabeled ATP. This suggests
that a significant amount of the enzyme in extracts of basal cells is
sequestered within vesicles that can be loaded with substrate at the time
of cell lysis, but then rapidly seal. In contrast to the results obtained
with basal cells, when cells activated in vivo are broken in the presence
of labeled ATP, there is less than 2-fold increase in adenylate cyclase
activity. Thus, a much smaller percentage of the observed adenylate cyclase
activity of stimulated cells appears to be due to sequestered enzyme than
of basal cells. Two models are discussed that account for these
observations. One model envisions that roughly equal populations of
sequestered and nonsequestered enzyme are produced upon breakage of both
basal and activated cells, but that sequestered enzyme in basal extracts
becomes uniquely activated in vitro. The other model proposes that the
differences in observed activity are due directly to differences in
sequestration. According to this latter model, nearly all of the -fold
activation previously observed for the D. discoideum adenylate cyclase can
be accounted for by a change in sequestration of the enzyme rather than by
an intrinsic alteration in the enzyme per se. It therefore suggests a novel
mode of regulation whereby an enzyme may be packaged within vesicles and
its activity controlled by modulating the permeability of the vesicles to
its substrate or effectors.