Kinetics of reconstitution of apotyrosinase by copper

Abstract

The kinetics of the reconstitution reaction of apotyrosinase with copper (II) ions are reported. The reaction is pseudo first order with respect to apoenzyme and the values of these pseudo first order rate constants are reported as a function of copper (II) concentration. Two copper ions bind to apoenzyme, and if the second one is rate limiting, the kinetically relevant copper concentration is the copper originally added minus the amount used in binding the first copper ion to enzyme. This modified copper concentration is linearly related to the magnitude of the pseudo first order rate constant, up to a copper concentration of 1.25 × 10−4 M (10-fold excess), giving a second order rate constant of 7.67 × 102 ± 0.93 × 102 M−1∙s−1.Key words: apotyrosinase, copper, tyrosinase.