Immunochemical studies on catabolite inactivation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (EC 4.1.1.49) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was purified to homogeneity. The enzyme is composed of four subunits of Mr = 64,000. Specific antibodies against phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase were raised in rabbits and purified by affinity chromatography. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase is rapidly inactivated when glucose is added to cells starved for carbon (Haarasilta, S., and Oura, E. (1975) Eur. J. Biochem. 52, 1-7; Gancedo, C., and Schwerzmann, K. (1976)( ARch. Microbiol. 109, 221-225). In the present study this inactivation has been analyzed by immunochemical techniques. It was found that the loss of catalytic activity is paralleled by a decrease in cross-reacting material which suggests degradation of the enzyme. In the absence of glucose the enzyme is degraded very slowly, which indicates that glucose-induced inactivation cannot simply be due to repression of enzyme synthesis in the presence of a rapid rate of degradation. Experiments with a proteinase-deficient mutant showed that proteinase B, carboxypeptidase Y, and carboxypeptidase S are not involved in the inactivation system.