EPSP synthase: binding studies using isothermal titration microcalorimetry and equilibrium dialysis and their implications for ligand recognition and kinetic mechanism

Isothermal titration calorimetry measurements are reported which give important new binding constant (Kd) information for various substrate and inhibitor complexes of Escherichia coli EPSP synthase (EPSPS). The validity of this technique was first verified by determining Kd's for the known binary complex with the substrate, shikimate 3-phosphate (S3P), as well as the herbicidal ternary complex with S3P and glyphosate (EPSPS.S3P.glyphosate). The observed Kd's agreed very well with those from previous independently determined kinetic and fluorescence binding measurements. Further applications unequivocally demonstrate for the first time a fairly tight interaction between phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and free enzyme (Kd = 390 microM) as well as a correspondingly weak affinity for glyphosate (Kd = 12 mM) alone with enzyme. The formation of the EPSPS.PEP binary complex was independently corroborated using equilibrium dialysis. These results strongly suggest that S3P synergizes glyphosate binding much more effectively than it does PEP binding. These observations add important new evidence to support the hypothesis that glyphosate acts as a transition-state analogue of PEP. However, the formation of a catalytically productive PEP binary complex is inconsistent with the previously reported compulsory binding order process required for catalysis and has led to new studies which completely revise the overall EPSPS kinetic mechanism. A previously postulated ternary complex between S3P and inorganic phosphate (EPSPS.S3P.Pi, Kd = 4 mM) was also detected for the first time. Quantitative binding enthalpies and entropies were also determined for each ligand complex from the microcalorimetry data. These values demonstrate a clear difference in thermodynamic parameters for recognition at the S3P site versus those observed for the PEP, Pi, and glyphosate sites.