Thermokinetic Studies on the Activation of Arginase by Glycine

The activation of bovine liver arginase, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of L‐arginine to L‐ornithine and urea, by glycine was studied by thermokinetic methods at 37°C in 40 mmol·L^?1 sodium barbiturate‐HCl buffer solution (pH 9.4). Results of this experiment indicate that an appropriate concentration of glycine can enhance the activity of arginase, and the relative activation rate reached its maximum value, 74%, when the concentration of glycine in reaction system was 1 mmol·L^?1 and the initial concentration of arginine was 5 mmol·L^?1. With the increase of substrate concentration, the relative activation rate decreased in a definite glycine concentration. Michealis constant K_m of reaction decreased from 5.53 to 3.31 mmol·L^?1 and inhibition constant of product L‐ornithine K_p increased from 1.18 to 3.73 mmol·L^?1 when glycine concentration was 1 mmol·L^?1. For these reasons one possible activation mechanism of arginase by glycine was suggested that the activation effect results from the competition of glycine and arginine to enzyme activity position. When one or two of the activity positions of arginase are occupied by glycine, it is propitious for the enzyme to complex with substrate and obstruct L‐ornithine from combining with enzyme, and when all of the activity positions are occupied by glycine, the activation effect vanishs and the inhibition effect appears.