Regulation of glycogen metabolism by protein phosphorylation during environmental stress
Abstract:
The enzymes involved in the phosphorylation controlled glycogen catabolic pathway were studied in two different model systems involving anoxia: functional anoxia in exercised fish and environmental anoxia in turtle. Glycogen phosphorylase b from rainbow trout,Oncorhynchus mykiss, white skeletal muscle was purified to near homogeneity. Glucose and ATP inhibited the enzyme; glucose inhibition decreased at lower pH values. Michaelis constants for glycogen, phosphate, and AMP were 128 micromolar, 31 millimolar, and 142 micromolar respectively, at pH 7.2; maximum enzyme activity was obtained at pH 7.5 and 25°C Exhaustive swimming exercise altered tissue glycogen phosphorylase kinase (GPK) and protein kinase A (PKA), GPK activity increasing by 60% in liver and 40% in white muscle of exercised fish. The amount of active PKA rose from 12% to 21% in liver and from 32% to 57% in white muscle after exhaustive swimming coupled with 50% and 70% increases in cellular cyclic AMP levels, respectively. Three forms of alpha-glucosidase were identified in trout liver. Two forms showed acid pH optima, hydrolyzed glycogen, maltose and 4-methylumbelliferyl alpha-glucoside (MUalphaG), and were associated with lysosomes whereas the third was microsomal, had a neutral pH optimum and did not hydrolyze glycogen. Properties of acid alpha-glucosidase type I changed significantly during exercise; maximal activity increased by 80% and Km values for glycogen and maltose dropped by 50% in exercised, versus control, fish. Exposure of turtles, Trachemys scripta elegans, to submergence anoxia at 7°C, elevated activities of phosphorolytic and glucosidic enzymes in some organs. Phosphorylase a in liver and heart increased significantly after 5 h of anoxia. PKA activity increased 2.3-fold in liver within 1 h of anoxia accompanied by a 60% increase in cAMP levels; however, with longer anoxia active PKA was suppressed to 2.1-3.7% of the total. Protein phosphatase-1 (PP-1) activity in liver decreased to 63% of controls within 1 h and remained suppressed over the subsequent 20 h of anoxia. PP-1 activity also fell in anoxic red muscle and decreased transiently in brain. Within one hour of anoxia, 40% of protein kinase C beta isomer (PKC-beta) and over 80% of PKC-alpha were translocated from cytosol to the membrane fraction. Activity of acid alpha-glucosidase also increased in liver of anoxic turtles. PKA, PP-1, PKC-alpha, and PKC-beta from control turtle liver were purified to homogeneity; physical and kinetic properties of these are presented.