Enzyme-activated inhibitors, alternate substrates, and a dead end inhibitor of the general acyl-CoA dehydrogenase.

Aspects of the binding and dehydrogenation of acyl-CoA thiol esters by the general acyl-CoA dehydrogenase from pig liver were investigated using a dead-end inhibitor, S-octyl-CoA, several alternate substrates, and three active site-directed inhibitors. Experiments with S-octyl-CoA indicate that the carbonyl group of acyl-CoA thiol esters is not absolutely required for binding to the enzyme. However, the mode of binding of the 8-carbon thiol ether can be distinguished from the mode of binding of the enoyl-CoA product, octenoyl-CoA. Octanoyl pantetheine, octanoyl-etheno-CoA, and octanoyl-3'-dephospho-CoA are alternate substrates of the dehydrogenase. Steady state kinetic constants obtained with these alternate substrates indicate that the adenosine 5'-diphosphate, but not the 3'-phosphate, of the nucleotide moiety of acyl-CoA substrates contribute to the tight binding of the substrates. The substrate analogs 3'-butynoyl-CoA and 3-octynoyl-CoA are active site-directed, mechanism-based irreversible inhibitors of the dehydrogenase. These inhibitors covalently modify the apoprotein rather than the flavin. This finding and the fact that 2,3-octadienoyl-CoA also completely and irreversibly inhibits the enzyme indicate that th 3-acetylenic thiol esters inhibit the enzyme by a mechanism involving: (1) base-catalyzed abstraction of a protein at C-2 followed by isomerization to the allene carbanion, (2) protonation of the carbanion, and (3) attack of a nucleophile in the enzyme-active site on C-3 of the 2,3-dienoyl-CoA. The data show that the alkynoyl-CoA's are activated and bound at the active site of the enzyme. The results suggest that abstraction of a proton at C-2 of acyl-CoA substrates is the initial step in the catalytic pathway of dehydrogenation of substrates by the enzyme.