A chromophoric and fluorescent analog of GTP, 2',3'-O-(2,4,6-trinitrocyclohexadienylidene)-GTP, as a spectroscopic probe for the GTP inhibitory site of liver glutamate dehydrogenase.

The ribose-modified chromophoric and fluorescent analog of ATP, 2',3'-O-(2,4,6-trinitrocyclohexadienylidene)-ATP (TNP-ATP) (Hiratsuka, T., and Uchida, K. (1973) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 320, 635-647 and Hiratsuka, T. (1976) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 453, 293-297) has been widely used as an ATP analog for various ATPases. Although the corresponding analog of GTP,2',3'-O-(2,4,6-trinitrocyclohexadienylidene)-GTP (TNP-GTP) should be useful for the study of various GTP-requiring enzymes, it is difficult to prepare TNP-GTP by the conventional method. In the present study, we succeeded in the synthesis of TNP-GTP with the use of an alternative method. The analogs of GDP, GMP, and guanyl-5'-yl imidodiphosphate (Gpp(NH)p) were also synthesized. Visible absorption and fluorescent properties of TNP-GTP, TNP-GDP, TNP-GMP, and TNP-Gpp(NH)p were quite similar to those of TNP-ATP. TNP-GTP was found to be able to replace GTP as an inhibitor for bovine liver glutamate dehydrogenase. The enzyme was inhibited by TNP-GTP to a maximum extent of 54% at saturating concentrations of the analog with a KI of 2.7 microM. TNP-Gpp(NH)p and other ribose-modified fluorescent analogs of GTP,3'-O-anthraniloyl-GTP and 3'-O-(N-methylanthraniloyl)-GTP (Hiratsuka, T. (1983) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 742, 496-508), also inhibited the enzymatic activity. Binding of TNP-GTP to the enzyme was characterized by a 5.6-fold enhancement in analog fluorescence. In the presence of NADH, the limiting fluorescence enhancement of the bound analog decreased to 2.7-fold. As determined by fluorometric titration, the maximum number of TNP-GTP binding sites on the enzyme was 1.9 mol/mol of subunit with a KD of 0.66 microM in the absence of NADH and 2.2 mol/mol of subunit with two KD values of 0.11 and 0.71 microM in the presence of NADH. These observations suggest that NADH binding increases the affinity of only 1 mol of the 2 mol of TNP-GTP bound to the enzyme. These spectroscopic and biological properties of TNP-GTP should make this analog useful as a chromophoric and fluorescent probe for studies not only of glutamate dehydrogenase but also of various GTP-requiring enzymes, which have a high specificity for the base moiety of GTP.