Properties of the interaction of fluoride and guanylyl 5' imidodiphosphate regulatory proteins with adenylate cyclase

The mechanism of activation of adenylate cyclase by guanylyl-5'-imidodiphosphate [Gpp(NH)p] and NaF has been investigated by studying the reconstitution of Gpp(NH)p and NaF sensitivity of an enzyme rendered insensitive to these agents by differential detergent extraction of a particulate brain enzyme. Such reconstitution can be achieved by the addition of macromolecular regulatory factors from membranes of various tissues. Trypsin digestion and thermal inactivation provide evidence for the existence of two distinct regulatory functions, one capable of restoring the Gpp(NH)p response and another the NaF response. The regulatory protein(s) seem to interact with their respective activators in an easily reversible, divalent cation-independent reaction. This appears to be followed by a high-affinity interaction between the catalytic and regulatory components of adenylate cyclase in a slow, temperature-dependent, divalent cation-dependent process that produces the persistently activated state of the enzyme. The enzyme activation can be reversed by methods that separate catalytic from regulatory components and the resulting enzyme activity can be restimulated by the reconstitution technique.