Properties of Trypsin-Mediated Activation of Aspartase from Hafnia alvei

Treatment of Hafnia alvei aspartase with limited tryptic digestion resulted in a marked increase in enzymatic activity. The activation required a few minutes to attain maximum level and, thereafter, the activity gradually decreased to complete inactivation. The degree of cleavage associated with the activation was extremely small as judged by SDS-PAGE. Upon activation, the optimum pH and temperature were essentially unchanged. When trypsin-activated enzyme was denatured in 4 M guanidine-HCI followed by removal of the denaturant by dilution, the restoration of activity was similar (40%) to that of the native enzyme, indicating a degree of stability. The $pK_a$ obtained on the acidic side and the $pK_b$ obtained on the basic side of trypsin-activated aspartase were 6.6 and 8.6, respectively, the same as those of the native aspartase, indicating that aspartase may exist in a stable conformation after limited tryptic digestion. These results indicate that the activation of H. alvei may be mediated by a conformational change away from the active site of individual subunits.