Transplanting allosteric control of enzyme activity by protein–protein interactions: Coupling a regulatory site to the conserved catalytic core

Glycerol kinase from Escherichia coli, but not Haemophilus influenzae, is inhibited allosterically by phosphotransferase system protein IIA(Glc). The primary structures of these related kinases contain 501 amino acids, differing at 117. IIA(Glc) inhibition is transplanted from E. coli glycerol kinase into H. influenzae glycerol kinase by interconverting only 11 of the differences: 8 residues that interact with IIA(Glc) at the allosteric binding site and 3 residues in the conserved ATPase catalytic core that do not interact with IIA(Glc) but the solvent accessible surface of which decreases when it binds. The three core residues are crucial for coupling the allosteric site to the conserved catalytic core of the enzyme. The site of the coupling residues identifies a regulatory locus in the sugar kinase/heat shock protein 70/actin superfamily and suggests relations between allosteric regulation and the active site closure that characterizes the family. The location of the coupling residues provides empirical validation of a computational model that predicts a coupling pathway between the IIA(Glc)-binding site and the active site [Luque, I. & Freire, E. (2000) Proteins Struct. Funct. Genet. Suppl. 4, 63–71]. The requirement for changes in core residues to couple the allosteric and active sites and switching from inhibition to activation by a single amino acid change are consistent with a postulated mechanism for molecular evolution of allosteric regulation.