The two half-reaction
s of the pyridoxal 5'-pho
sphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme dialkylglycinedecarboxyla
se (DGD) were
studied individually by multiwavelength
stopped-flow
spectro
scopy. Bipha
sicbehavior wa
s found for the reaction
s of DGD-PLP, con
si
stent with two coexi
sting conformation
s ob
servedin
steady-
state kinetic
s [Zhou, X., and Toney, M. D. (1998)
Biochemistry 37, 5761-5769]. The half-reaction kinetic parameter
s depend on alkali metal ion
size in a manner
similar to that ob
served for
steady-
state kinetic parameter
s. The fa
st pha
se maximal rate con
stant for the 2-aminoi
sobutyrate (AIB)decarboxylation half-reaction with the pota
ssium form of DGD-PLP i
s 25
s-1, while that for thetran
samination half-reaction between DGD-PMP and pyruvate i
s 75
s-1. The maximal rate con
stant forthe tran
samination half-reaction of the pota
ssium form of DGD-PLP with
L-alanine i
s 24
s-1. The
spectraldata indicate that external aldimine formation with either AIB or
L-alanine and DGD-PLP i
s a rapidequilibrium proce
ss, a
s i
s ketimine formation from DGD-PMP and pyruvate. Ab
sorption a
scribable tothe quinonoid intermediate i
s not ob
served in the AIB decarboxylation half-reaction, but i
s ob
served inthe dead-time of the
stopped-flow in the
L-alanine tran
samination half-reaction. The [1-
13C]AIB kinetici
sotope effect (KIE) on
kcat for the
steady-
state reaction i
s 1.043 ± 0.003, while a value of 1.042 ± 0.009wa
s mea
sured for the AIB half-reaction. The
secondary KIE mea
sured for the AIB decarboxylation half-reaction with [C4'-
2H]PLP i
s 0.92 ± 0.02. The primary [2-
2H]-
L-alanine KIE on the tran
samination half-reaction i
s unity. Small but
significant
solvent KIE
s are ob
served on
kcat and
kcat/
KM for both
sub
strate
s,and the proton inventorie
s are linear in each ca
se. NMR mea
surement
s of C2-H wa
shout v
s productformation give ratio
s of 105 and 14 with
L-alanine and i
sopropylamine a
s sub
strate
s, re
spectively. The
sere
sult
s support a rate-limiting, concerted C
s/gifchar
s/alpha.gif" BORDER=0>-decarboxylation/C4'-protonation mechani
sm for the AIBdecarboxylation reaction, and rapid equilibrium quinonoid formation followed by rate-limiting protonationto the ketimine intermediate for the
L-alanine tran
samination half-reaction. Energy profile
s for the twohalf-reaction
s are con
structed.