Some kinetic studies on the mechanism of action of carnitine acetyltransferase.

1. Michaelis constants for substrates of carnitine acetyltransferase have been shown to be independent of the concentration of second substrate present. This applies to the forward reaction between acetyl-l-carnitine and CoASH, and to the back reaction between l-carnitine and acetyl-CoA. 2. Product inhibition of both forward and back reactions has been studied. Evidence has been obtained for independent binding sites for l-carnitine and CoASH. Acetyl groups attached to either substrate occupy overlapping positions in space when the substrates are bound to the enzyme. 3. Possible reaction mechanisms involving the ordered addition of substrates have been excluded by determining kinetic constants in the presence and absence of added product. 4. d-Carnitine and acetyl-d-carnitine have been shown to inhibit competitively with respect to l-carnitine and acetyl-l-carnitine. 5. It is concluded that the mechanism of action of carnitine acetyltransferase involves four binary and two or more ternary enzyme complexes in rapid equilibrium with free substrates, the interconversion of the ternary complexes being the rate-limiting step. The possible intermediate formation of an acetyl-enzyme cannot be excluded, but this could only arise from a ternary complex.