Substitution of the C2-OH group by C2-H at 4-nitrophenyl-
-
D-galactopyranoside to give4-nitrophenyl-2-deoxy-
-
D-galactopyranoside causes (1) a change in the rate-determining step for
-galactosidase-catalyzed sugar hydrolysis from formation to breakdown of a covalent intermediate; (2)a 14 000-fold decrease in the second-order rate constant
k3/
Kd for enzyme-catalyzed transfer of the
-
D-galactopyranosyl group from the substrate to form a covalent adduct to the enzyme; and (3) a larger320 000-fold decrease in the first-order rate constant
ks for hydrolysis of this covalent adduct. Only asmall fraction (ca. 7%) of the 2-OH substituent effect is expressed in the ground-state Michaelis complex,so that the (apparent) strong interactions between the enzyme and 2-OH group that stabilize the transitionstate for
-
D-galactopyranosyl transfer only develop upon moving from the Michaelis complex to thetransition state. Mg
2+ activates
-galactosidase for cleavage of both 4-nitrophenyl-
-
D-galactopyranosideand 4-nitrophenyl-2-deoxy-
-
D-galactopyranoside. This suggests that Mg
2+ activation does not involveinteractions with the 2-OH group. The removal of Mg
2+ from
-galactosidase causes a change in therate-determining step for enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of 4-nitrophenyl-2-deoxy-
-
D-galactopyranosidefrom breakdown to formation of the covalent intermediate. The observed 2-OH effect would require avery large (10-11 kcal/mol) stabilization of the transition state for
-
D-galactopyranosyl group transferto water by interactions between
-galactosidase and the neutral 2-OH group. We suggest that the apparenteffect of the neutral substituent is more simply rationalized by ionization of the 2-OH to form a 2-O
-anion, which provides effective electrostatic stabilization of the cationic transition state for glycosidecleavage at an active site of relatively low dielectric constant.