We prev
iously reported that the k
inet
ic prof
iles for the assoc
iat
ion and d
issoc
iat
ion offunct
ionally d
iverse C
8-CoA-l
igands, v
iz., octanoyl-CoA (substrate), octenoyl-CoA (product), and octynoyl-CoA (
inact
ivator) w
ith med
ium cha
in acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD), were essent
ially
ident
ical,suggest
ing that the prote
in conformat
ional changes played an essent
ial role dur
ing l
igand b
ind
ing and/orcatalys
is [
Peterson, K. L., Serg
ienko, E. E., Wu, Y., Kumar, N. R., Strauss, A. W., Oleson, A. E., Muhonen,W. W., Shabb, J. B., and Sr
ivastava, D. K. (1995)
Biochemisry 34, 14942-14953]. To ascerta
in thestructural bas
is of the above s
im
ilar
ity, we
invest
igated the k
inet
ics of assoc
iat
ion and d
issoc
iat
ion of
![](/<font color=)
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ifchars/alpha.g
if" BORDER=0>-CH
![](/<font color=)
images/ent
it
ies/rarr.g
if">NH-subst
ituted C
8-CoA, namely, 2-azaoctanoyl-CoA, w
ith the recomb
inant form of human l
iverMCAD. The rap
id-scann
ing and s
ingle wavelength stopped-flow data for the b
ind
ing of 2-azaoctanoyl-CoA to MCAD revealed that the overall
interact
ion proceeds v
ia two steps. The f
irst (fast) step
involvesthe format
ion of an enzyme-l
igand coll
is
ion complex (w
ith a d
issoc
iat
ion constant of
Kc), followed bya slow
isomer
izat
ion step (w
ith forward and reverse rate constants of
kf and
kr, respect
ively) w
ithconcom
itant changes
in the electron
ic structure of the enzyme-bound FAD. S
ince the latter step
involvesa concurrent change
in the enzyme's tryptophan fluorescence,
it
is suggested that the
isomer
izat
ion step
is coupled to the changes
in the prote
in conformat
ion. Although the overall b
ind
ing aff
in
ity (
Kd) of theenzyme-2-azaoctanoyl-CoA complex
is s
im
ilar to that of the enzyme-octenoyl-CoA complex, the
irm
icroscop
ic equ
il
ibr
ia w
ith
in the coll
is
ion and
isomer
ized complexes show an oppos
ite relat
ionsh
ip. Theseresults coupled w
ith the
isothermal t
itrat
ion m
icrocalor
imetr
ic stud
ies lead to the suggest
ion that theelectrostat
ic
interact
ion w
ith
in the enzyme s
ite phase modulates the m
icroscop
ic steps, as well as the
ircorrespond
ing ground and trans
it
ion states, dur
ing the course of the enzyme-l
igand
interact
ion.