Transglucosylation as a probe of the mechanism of action of mammalian cytosolic beta-glucosidase.

Abstract This study establishes that guinea pig liver cytosolic beta-glucosidase generates a common glucosyl-enzyme intermediate from a variety of aryl beta-D-glucoside substrates and that the intermediate can react with various acceptors to form distinct products at rates which are dependent on the structure, nucleophilicity, and concentration of the acceptor. Specifically, we demonstrate that water and linear alkanols will react with the glucosyl-enzyme intermediate to form D-glucose and alkyl-beta-D-glucoside (e.g. octyl-beta-D-glucoside), respectively. The rate of alcoholysis is 24-fold greater than the rate of hydrolysis of the glucosyl-enzyme intermediate and accounts for the increase in steady-state rate of substrate disappearance in the presence of alcohols. In addition, the substrate molecule itself (e.g. p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactoside (pNP-Gal)) can serve as an acceptor in the transglycosylation reaction, thereby enabling the enzyme to synthesize disaccharide glycosides (e.g. pNP-beta-Gal(6----1)beta-Gal). The transglycosylation data point to the presence of two hydrophobic subsites in the active site of the cytosolic beta-glucosidase. These data support a model in which the cytosolic beta-glucosidase binds an acceptor and a glycosyl donor simultaneously within its catalytic center and efficiently catalyzes the transfer of a sugar residue from the donor to the acceptor.